In Her Time of Need
by SlytherinFan15
Summary: When Lily Evans receives the worst news of her life, James Potter is the last person she ever expected to be able to comfort her. But this new feeling for him, it's only the insanity from grief, right? Maybe not. LilyJames
1. Unexpected Comforter

Grief can leave lasting scars; comfort can heal them, and sometimes more. When Lily Evans receives the worst news of her life, James Potter is the last person she ever expected to be able to comfort her. But this new feeling for him, it's only the insanity from grief, right? Maybe not. Lily/James. Read and Review!

* * *

Chapter 1

Unexpected Comforter

Lily Evans was so startled by the sudden appearance of a small house elf that she left a rather large ink smudge on her nearly completed Potions essay. Sighing because she'd have to re-copy the entire thing, she reached forward to take the note the elf held out to her.

"Thank you," she managed to mumble before the shy creature disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared.

Unfolding the parchment, Lily immediately recognized the neat handwriting belonging to Professor McGonagall.

_Dear Miss Evans,_

_Please report to my office immediately. I'm afraid I have a most urgent matter to discuss with you._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor Minerva McGonagall._

Lily allowed herself a brief moment of confusion before automatically rising and heading for the portrait hole. She couldn't imagine what was so urgent it couldn't wait till Transfiguration tomorrow; Lily had so little time between head girl duties, homework and the quickly approaching N.E.W.T. exams.

A few steps from the portrait hole, a loud cracking noise from near the fireplace, followed by stifled laughter, caught her attention. Already irritated at having her Potions essay interrupted, she snapped her head toward the group of four boys whom she knew to be responsible.

"Potter!" she barked, sounding more like Professor McGonagall than she had intended.

"Evans," James Potter returned, his familiar sarcastic smile gracing his face.

"Why do you always have to yell 'Potter,'" Sirius Black interrupted, looking over at her. "Why can't you ever scream, 'Sirius,'" He raised his voice to a very sensual, girly moan.

"You're sick, Black," Lily shot back while all four boys laughed. "Potter, you are supposed to be patrolling the corridors right now. Honestly, Dumbledore must have been delusional the day he made you Head Boy!"

And with that, she stalked out of the Gryffindor Common room, making a mental note to report Potter's lack of seriousness in his Head Boy duties to McGonagall.

Lily arrived outside McGonagall's office in a slightly better mood. She had found no students out after hours; having to reprimand people never made her happy.

After her polite knock, Lily entered the pristine office to see a very grim Professor McGonagall sitting behind her desk. A letter sat open on top of a pile of half-graded student papers.

"Lily, please take a seat," McGonagall instructed, waving her wand and transforming one of the desks into a soft armchair. "Would you care for any tea?" she continued, indicating the steaming kettle in the fireplace beside her.

Lily shook her head. She just wished McGonagall would get to the point. Had there been something horrendously wrong with the essay she had turned in?

"Lily, I just received a note from you sister." McGonagall looked uncomfortable, something Lily had never seen in her normally calm professor.

Lily stiffened visibly; what reason did Petunia have for writing her head of house? Petunia had made it quite clear how she felt about Lily being a witch when she'd failed to invite Lily to her wedding. The situation had only been remedied by their mother, who forced Petunia to invite Lily, and who then forced Lily to attend.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news," McGonagall finally said softly, her eyes becoming a bit moist. "I'm sorry to have to inform you that your parents were involved in a car accident last night. They didn't survive."

Lily blinked. She did not hear McGonagall correctly. She was dreaming, or hallucinating, or being affected by a boggart. Her eyes suddenly stung and she felt as if she couldn't draw a breath through the tightness in her throat. A strange ringing filled her ears, but it didn't block her brain from registering the next words.

"Your sister is taking care of the arrangements and the funeral will be on Thursday. You, of course, will be excused from all your classes for as long as is necessary."

Lily finally managed to suck in a ragged breath, which seemed to signal her whole body to react. Hot tears poured down her face, splattering onto her robes. But she barely noticed; her entire body seemed to have gone numb.

Professor McGonagall looked at her with a mixture of sadness and pity, and it was more than Lily could bear.

Without a word, she stumbled from the office, ignoring McGonagall's urgent call of, "Lily!"

Lily ran, not knowing, or caring, which direction she was going. Her heavy footfalls masked the sound of her sobs. Her eyes blurred, her stomach was knotted painfully, and her head ached as it tried to grasp the reality of the situation. She didn't even notice another student walking down the hall until she had ran smack into a very solid chest.

"Evans, you really need to watch where you are going," teased James Potter, not noticing Lily's state.

Lily didn't even register who had spoken, she just tried to continue running. But by this time, James had glimpsed her tear streaked face. Grabbing her arm to prevent her escape, he pulled her back toward him.

"Lily, what's wrong?" There was no mockery, no sarcasm, only utter concern in his voice.

Lily wasn't sure why she did it, but something primordial had taken over inside her. She needed to be warm, to be held, to be comforted. It could have been a Slytherin for all she cared, but she threw her arms around James and clung to his robes as if her life depended on it.

James looked down at the red clump of hair pressing against his chest. He would be lying if he said he hadn't been secretly wishing for Lily Evans to throw herself into his arms since third year, but he had never imagined it this way.

Slowly, he put his arms around her, pulling her into him the way he remembered his mother hugging him as a small child. What could possibly have her this upset?

For the second time he asked, "Lily, what's wrong?"

She only sobbed harder into his robes. But somehow, through the mumbled tears he was able to catch, "they're dead, they're dead."

A sinking feeling filled James' stomach. "Who's dead?" he asked softly.

"My parents," Lily whimpered before being racked with sobs again.

James sucked his breath in a little. "I'm so sorry, Lily."

As Lily realized what she had said, the full weight of what had happened fell on her. Her legs completely gave out, and the only reason she didn't crumple to the floor was because of James' strong arms.

James wasn't sure if Lily had fainted, or if her legs had just simply given out. All he knew was that suddenly all of Lily Evans' weight was hanging off him. Slowly, he eased her onto the floor, so both were sitting on the cold flag stones. The whole time he hadn't broken contact with her. This was definitely not how he had imaged his first embrace with her.

Footsteps echoed quickly from the direction Lily had run from. James looked up quickly to see Professor McGonagall walking briskly around the corner. She stopped suddenly when she saw Lily on the ground, her body cradled by James. McGonagall's stern face softened, giving James a look she had only given him once before, a few months previous.

"When she is ready, please escort Miss Evans to the hospital wing for a dreamless draught," she ordered softly before turning and walking away.

James knew what McGonagall must be thinking; he was thinking it himself. How very ironic that Lily Evans had run into the only other person in the school who knew how she felt.

James waited patiently for Lily to calm down enough to be able to walk again. He gently coaxed her off the floor, and helped her to the infirmary. Neither said anything; James would tell her later, now wasn't the time. When they arrived, Madam Pomfrey was waiting for them.

"Minerva already told me," she whispered to James, taking his place and helping Lily to an open bed.

James stood at the doorway awkwardly. He wasn't sure if he should stay or leave quietly. Lily decided for him. Looking up from the bed Madam Pomfrey had tucked her into, Lily asked softly, "Stay with me until I fall sleep?"

James nodded a silent consent and walked over to her bedside and sat down to her left. She turned a very tear stained, puffy eyed face to him. "You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"No, of course not," he replied honestly.

She gave him a very weak smile as Madam Pomfrey returned with the steaming goblet full of a potion for dreamless sleep. Lily drank it without hesitation and then sank back into the pillows. She reached a hand out to James, and he immediately took it and gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze. He continued to hold her hand as her eyes fluttered closed and her breathing slowed.

"You may go now, Mr. Potter," Madam Pomfrey commented. "Miss Evans will be out until well into tomorrow."

James knew it would be impossible to explain why he wanted to stay, especially since he wasn't sure himself. He gently released Lily's warm hand and headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

The next afternoon in transfiguration, Lily Evans' absence was all anyone could talk about. The Head Girl was never absent from class. Her friends, after harassing McGonagall for fifteen minutes straight, were told she was ill and had spent the night in the hospital wing. However, James' excursion the night before wasn't going unnoticed by his friends either.

"Come on, Prongs, what were you really doing last night?"

"I already told you, Padfoot, I was patrolling the halls like I was supposed to."

"Yeah, and that's why you came back with half your robes soaked," chuckled Remus.

"Can it, Moony," James replied moodily. "I answered that last night too. Peeves got me with a water bomb."

Sirius and Remus just rolled their eyes. Their havoc reeking skills had earned the Marauders a sort of truce with Peeves; he hadn't bothered them for years.

When classes were over, James managed to sneak away from his friends under the pretense of more Head Boy responsibilities. But once out of the common room, he headed straight to the hospital wing to check on Lily.

However, he found her bed curtained off. Madam Pomfrey told him curtly that Lily was still sleeping off the effects of the potion.

James, however, was certain he heard sniffling from behind the curtain. He intended to go get his invisibility cloak, when the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team provided an ample distraction. While Madam Pomfrey tended to the Beater with a severely broken nose, James quickly ducked inside the curtain surrounding Lily's bed.

"Go away, I want to be alone," Lily mumbled, her face turned away from him.

"How do you know you didn't just grumble that to Madam Pomfrey?" James inquired, unable to bite back the remark.

"Madam Pomfrey always hums," Lily replied tersely. "You weren't humming."

"Well, I can if you want."

"Go away, Potter."

"Come on, Lily. I just wanted to see how you were."

"Horrible, now go away!"

"Lily, you can talk to me; I was there last night."

"Forget last night," she replied hotly. "I wasn't in my right mind. You happened to be the first person I stumbled into."

"Ouch, that hurts Evans."

"Look, just forget about last night, ok?" Lily rolled over to finally look at him. "I'm sorry I had to burden you with it."

"You weren't a burden," James replied honestly.

Lily looked at him sadly. "I just need to be alone right now. You can't understand."

"Yes I can," James said seriously.

"How can you?" Lily shot back, tears starting to fill her eyes. "Rich little James, living in his big mansion, Mommy and Daddy giving him everything he needs. They probably still send you allowance…"

"They died a month into the new term," James spit. "So yeah, rich little James is on his own now." And with that, he stormed out of the hospital wing. He was gone so fast he never heard Lily call his name.

When Lily Evans left the hospital wing the next day, she did so during classes to avoid meeting anyone in the halls, and under the effect of many makeup charms on her puffy eyes just in case she did run into someone. After successfully making it to Gryffindor Tower without seeing another living soul, she escaped to her dormitory to begin packing for the funeral the next day. She tried to do it without thinking about why she was packing, but ended up in tears by the end anyway.

Finally packed and dry-eyed, she descended back into the common room to spend a few minutes in front of the fire before taking refuge in the infirmary again. However, she couldn't mask a surprised "Oh" when there was someone else in the common room already.

James Potter looked up, startled, by the small noise behind him, causing his tower of Exploding Snap cards to tumble, singeing the tips of his fingers.

"Potter, what are you doing here?" Lily demanded before even thinking to keep her mouth shut.

"I _was_ playing Exploding Snap," James replied irritably, sucking on the tips of his burnt digits.

"I know what you were doing. But why aren't you in Potions?"

"Slughorn kicked me out," James answered, the slightest hint of a smile flitting across his face.

Lily sighed, "Let me guess, picking on Severus again?"

James attempted to look innocent as he defended himself. "If you had heard what he called Moony, you would have tried to hex him too."

"And I'm sure he started it, completely unprovoked."

"As always," James smiled back.

"Look," Lily said seriously as she sat down a few chairs away from James. "I don't know how long I'll be gone; I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I didn't mean to be…"

"Insensitive," James finished, the smile vanishing from his face. She was apologizing, he thought wryly; Lily Evans never apologized.

"I didn't know," Lily proclaimed, getting herself worked up again.

"It's okay," James said quietly, not wanting her to start crying again. "No students know, except for Sirius, Remus, and Peter."

"But how did you wake up every morning and not, and not…"

"not want to throw myself off of the Astronomy tower?"

Lily nodded.

"Sirius kept me sane. You know he's been staying with me and my parents since sixth year?"

Lily shook her head, looking surprised.

"Well, you remember Narcissa and Bellatrix, and Regulus is still sulking around over in Slytherin," James explained. "Would you want to spend your holidays with an entire family like that? So my parents have been letting him stay with us since he ran away from home. He's like the brother I never had."

"I wish I had someone like him," Lily sighed. "I know the girls here would be supportive, but, I just feel like I need something more."

"Don't you have a sister?" James remarked.

Lily snorted. "We prefer to pretend we aren't related. She hates me for being a witch. It was that special talent she just couldn't match, and she got this deluded idea when I left for Hogwarts that our parents loved me more because I was learning magic." Lily's eyes started weeping as she unintentionally mentioned her parents. "I'm surprised Petunia even wrote to tell me, she tried to not invite me to her wedding, why not our parents' funeral?"

James moved over to Lily's chair as she started sobbing once more. Perched on the arm, he ran a reassuring hand up and down her back. "Believe it or not, Lily, things will get better, you just have to give it time."

"I feel like I have no one," she cried.

"You have me," James replied instinctively, but then realizing how boyfriend-like that sounded quickly added, "to talk to."

James twitched in the uncomfortable silence that had followed. The last thing he wanted Lily to think was that he was hitting on her. He would never do that. Well, he probably would have in any other year past, but this year was different. He did know how she felt, and his own experiences had forced him to mature more in several months than he had in seven years.

"I can't do this," Lily finally exploded. James nearly fell off the edge of the chair. "I can't do this. I can't go to a funeral tomorrow, I can't face Petunia, I just can't do it." She collapsed into sobs again.

From outside the portrait hole, a bell sounded, signaling the end of classes. Lily's head shot up, and panic instead of hysteria shone in her eyes.

"James, everyone will be coming back from classes. I can't answer questions, not now, not yet." Her head collapsed back into her hands.

Not only had Lily Evans apologized to him, but now she was begging him for help.

"No one will see you," he promised, pointing his wand discreetly toward his dormitory and thanking Merlin for wordless magic. A few seconds later a shimmering cloak had found its way into his hands, and he had coaxed Lily to her feet and wrapped it around them both. He led her out the portrait hole just before a gang of fourth years descended on the common room.

By the time they reached the hospital wing, Lily had recovered from her last bought of tears, and James knew questions about the cloak would follow. Madam Pomfrey, however, rescued James from any questions once he had thrown off the cloak.

The nurse clicked her tongue at Lily, who had started walking toward her bed. Normally Madam Pomfrey didn't allow perfectly healthy students to hide in her infirmary, but the nurse couldn't help but pity the Head Girl for her loss. Lily had spent most of the morning convincing Madam Pomfrey to let her stay just one more night, under the effects of another dreamless drought.

Lily began closing the curtains around her bed and James turned to leave, but she called his name as he reached the door. He turned around and approached her bedside a bit too eagerly. Despite the circumstances, he couldn't help but feel thrilled to have been so close to Lily Evans twice in the last twenty four hours.

Lily was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking up at him through a small crack in the curtains. "Why have you been helping me?"

James couldn't hide the surprise, "what do you mean, why? I already told you, I know how you feel. I would never desert someone who is going through what I had to go through."

"So it has nothing to do with your little obsession with asking me out at least once a month for the past four years?"

James stared straight into Lily's emerald eyes. She wasn't mad, yet, just questioning and suspicious. "It's pointless to deny that I haven't fancied you for years, Lily, but for once it has nothing to do with that. I had Sirius to keep me from going mad, and I'll be there for you the same way if you want me to be."

Lily broke the stare suddenly, as tears began to flow down her cheeks once more. James kicked himself mentally for saying whatever it was that had started the waterworks again. True, he had been upset when his parents had passed, and he had cried (and Sirius was dead if he ever told anyone) but Lily seemed to have a never ending supply of tears.

Through the deluge, she managed to find her voice. "I don't mean to be too forward, and I know that you probably won't want to, and that's alright, plus you'd have to miss classes, and Quidditch, and you'd probably rather want to be with your friends…"

"Lily," James interjected softly. "The point?"

Lily wrung her hands. "I don't want to bring back any awful memories for you, or anything, but I was sort of hoping you would come to the funeral with me? For emotional support. Just as a favor this one time, and then I swear I'll never ask anything of you ever again…"

James interrupted, "you're rambling again. And yes, I will go with you. You shouldn't have to feel alone."

Lily smiled, and then shockingly giggled a little, "who are you and what have you done with that big headed jerk known as James Potter?"

James laughed lightly as well. "Polyjuice Potion. I'm really Sirius Black, horribly debonair and a complete ladies man."

Lily laughed again, but fell silent again far too quickly. "I feel guilty for laughing at a time like this," she confessed.

"Don't," James replied instantly. "Laughter is a great medicine for fear and sadness, just think of boggarts."

"Thank you," Lily replied softly, lifting her legs onto the bed and reaching for a text book on the bedside stand.

"I'll see you tomorrow," James replied, taking the hint and leaving Lily to her own thoughts.

* * *

A/N: This was written before DH was released, so it is not canon compliant. All reviews are greatly appreciated.


	2. Stolen Childhood

Chapter 2

Stolen Childhood

While the rest of the school attended morning lessons, Lily crept back into the Gryffindor Common Room. She had kept hoping that today would not come, but the dreamless draught she took before bed each night made the hours pass quickly. Now here she stood, wearing a simple Muggle style black dress. Lily's mother had bought it for her, with the reasoning "every girl needs a little black dress." Lily never imagined she'd be wearing it for this reason.

Lily silently prayed for the common room to be completely empty when she went back down. She had started to regret having asked James to come with her. It really did seem completely inappropriate; if they had been dating, well that would be different. She shook her head violently to clear it of the thoughts of dating James Potter. She didn't understand why she had this sudden attachment to him, but she assured herself that it would pass once she was finished grieving, and things would go right back to the way they used to be. James would continue to be an arrogant jerk, and Lily would spend every waking moment telling him off or ignoring his advances.

James, however, had kept his word. He sat silently in front of the common room fire, looking very pensive.

Lily dropped the small suitcase she toted with a dull thud when she saw him. "What are you wearing?" she quipped before she could catch the words.

"What?" James asked, standing suddenly and looking down with a frown at his Muggle suit. "Remus told me this is what Muggles wear to formal occasions. I swear, if he was messing with me I'll…"

"No, no, it's fine," Lily interjected. "I was just surprised. I'm used to only seeing you in robes. I'm not sure what I thought you'd wear, but I never thought you'd actually go get a suit."

"Well, I didn't actually go get one. It took me forever to convince Remus to transfigure this from a set of old dress robes without telling him what they were for."

"Well, you look very…nice." Lily gulped before picking up her suitcase and taking a very deep, though shaky, breath. "We'd best be going, or we'll be late."

James nodded solemnly and followed her out of the portrait hole, out of the castle, and down to Hogsmeade without saying another word. They both felt the awkwardness of the situation; it felt too much like something a couple would be doing. From Hogsmeade they would Apparate into the back garden of Lily's house. Lily pulled a map out of her purse to show James where he was going before giving him a final once over.

"Am I appropriate for appearing around Muggles?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"That," Lily said, pointing at James, "will have to go."

James looked shocked as his hand flew down to the jacket pocket where the end of his wand stuck out visibly. "Lily, I'm not leaving my wand. You know what has been going on outside of Hogwarts…"

"I don't mean don't take it," Lily replied, pulling her own wand out of a very cleverly hidden pocket on her dress. She pointed it at James' pocket and muttered something. Instantly the wand slipped into the now magically expanded pocket. "And just a few warnings before you meet my sister. If you _have_ to mention Hogwarts, just say 'your school,' and make absolutely no mention of magic if you can help it, especially around her husband, Vernon. He doesn't know about me, and Petunia has made it quite clear that if she should have to explain to him…" Lily stopped suddenly as her voice cracked and she shivered in the January cold. She wasn't wearing her cloak, as it was too "magical" for her sister, so she had settled for a simple black button down sweater for over the dress.

"Come on," James said sternly, fighting the urge to take a few steps toward her and warm her up himself. "The sooner we get to your house, the sooner you can get warm."

Lily nodded a silent accordance, and then swiftly turned on her heel and disappeared with a soft pop. James followed seconds later.

* * *

A thin layer of snow crunched underfoot as James looked around the backyard of the place Lily Evans called home. The many flower beds lay dormant in the snow, but James could tell that in the spring and summer they would have been overflowing. One bed, however, bloomed in reds and golds. Gryffindor colors, James thought automatically.

"Anti-frost charms," Lily said slowly from behind James. "One of the first charms I performed once I turned seventeen. Mom always hated it when her roses went dormant in the winter."

James thought Lily was about ready to cry again, when her face suddenly went stony instead. The back door of the small, red brick house had been thrown open, and a skinny, horse- faced woman stood there, looking about as inviting as Madam Pince.

"Petunia," Lily said coolly, acknowledging her sister as she approached the door.

"Lily," Petunia returned equally coolly. "I see you have decided to bring a _date_ to the funeral."

James' head spun back to Petunia. He had been busy trying to figure out how two so different women could possibly be even remotely related, never mind sisters. However, now that he had been dragged in, he might as well introduce himself.

Lily, however, beat him to it. "This is James Potter, a _friend_ from _school_ who has been a great comfort to me."

James put as much of an amicable look on his face as possible for the situation and stuck out his hand in greeting, but Petunia only gasped audibly and took a few steps back, as if touching James' hand might cause her bodily harm. After a few seconds, James retracted the greeting and gave Lily an awkward glance.

"Are you going to leave me standing outside in the cold all day, sister?" Lily finally asked, her voice colder than the air around her.

Petunia moved aside slowly, looking wary as Lily and James entered.

The house, James noticed, would have appeared welcoming if it weren't for the almost unnatural cleanliness that pervaded it. Lily seemed a little taken aback by it as well.

"Been cleaning?" she asked curtly.

"Well how else am I supposed to get this place to sell quickly?"

"Sell?" James was surprised to hear actual emotion in Lily's voice.

"Of course sell. I have a house of my own now, and surely all the fuss you made over being of age among _your_ kind means you weren't expecting to move home with mother and father once you finished that thing you call school."

"But what about all my things that are still here," Lily argued, her eyes becoming noticeably moist.

"I've placed several boxes in your room. Take what you want." Petunia turned on her heel and walked back into the kitchen. James stood silently, stunned at how accurate Lily had been when she had told him that she and her sister preferred to pretend they weren't related.

* * *

The uncomfortable silence of the car ride to the funeral was forgotten when James saw the church where the service would take place. He had never been to a Muggle church, and this one was a huge, old, gothic style one that reminded him of Hogwarts. Gargoyles, with their mouths frozen open to let the rain pass through, perched on the corners, lightly dusted with snow. Stained glass windows cast colored shadows onto the snow covered ground. The large wooden doors opened into an isle that stretched between two rows of wooden pews before finally terminating at an altar, which was surrounded by poinsettias: remnants of the Christmas services. Two identical, polished coffins sat end to end in front of the altar, closed and surrounded by more flowers: more poinsettias, but also white lilies and petunias.

James turned his head immediately towards Lily when he heard her stifle a single sob, but by the time she returned his gaze, she had oppressed her emotions once more. The clergyman welcomed them, and then led Lily to the caskets in order for her to say her final goodbyes before the funeral. James slipped silently into one of the pews about half way up the aisle and studied the architecture closely to ensure that even his eyes didn't intrude on Lily's private moment with her parents. He didn't lower his gaze again until he felt someone slide into the pew.

Lily clutched a handkerchief in her fingers as she cried silently. She had hoped that as soon as she saw her parnets she would instantly accept their deaths; but she had found it to be the direct opposite. Being at the funeral only confirmed what she had been trying to tell herself hadn't happened. Lily would never believe that the pain she felt now really was the first step toward acceptance and moving on.

James took one look at her and did the only thing that seemed natural in the situation; he leaned over and hugged her. It wasn't a romantic embrace, but the embrace of someone who's been there too. And Lily hugged him back, leaning her head against the side of his and wetting his face with her own tears. But in a moment it was over, and Lily had pulled back again, drying her face with the hankie.

"I have to go meet my parents' friends," she said softly. "They were both single children, so I don't have many relatives, but they had dozens and dozens of friends."

Lily hadn't been exaggerating. The church soon began filling with well dressed people, most sniffling slightly and carrying handkerchiefs or handfuls of tissues. By the time the service was about to start, James wished he could have met the Evans before their deaths; if their amount of friends was any indication, they must have been exceptionally friendly and caring people.

Lily led James to one of the front pews, and he couldn't help but wonder if he and Vernon Dursley had been placed between the two sisters on purpose. James was shocked that they couldn't put their differences aside for one day; both sat at opposite ends of the bench, weeping and dabbing their eyes with their handkerchiefs.

After the funeral, all the attendees made their way to the funeral reception. Slowly, as friends began to rise and tell their memorable stories of Lily's parents, the grief turned into a celebration of two lives that, although too short, had been surrounded by joy and love and lived to the fullest.

* * *

Lily sat on the edge of her bed; she finally felt like she had used all of her tears, leaving her eyes red and sore. There were boxes scattered on the floor, just as Petunia had promised, but Lily was having a hard time motivating herself to pack anything up. James stood silently in the doorway, not wanting to intrude, but also feeling too protective to leave Lily alone at the moment.

"You can come in, you know," she mumbled from the bed. She wasn't looking at him though, she was staring at the blank ceiling absently.

James looked around the room Lily Evans had grown up in. He had learned more about her in the last three days than he had in seven years as her classmate. Of course, he had never really cared to know before. The only personal question he had ever asked her was "hey Evans, wanna go out with me?"

The bedroom walls radiated a soft pastel pink, but everything else was white with pink flowers; lilies, James discovered after a closer look. The walls were decorated with posters of Muggle bands (one with four young men was most common), a Gryffindor Pennant, and a large Hogwarts crest. There were several parchment letters taped up as well, in a neat line. James moved over to get a better look, and saw Lily's Hogwarts acceptance letter, her Prefect and O.W.L. scores letter, and her Head Girl letter. She had a white painted bookshelf covered in books. James recognized old text books from past years, but also some books he had never seen before, including one about some Muggle guy named Sherlock. Knick-knacks covered her dresser, including several small dolls with long blond hair, elaborate outfits, and breasts that James only wished came that big on Hogwarts girls.

"I knew I couldn't stay here forever," Lily spoke suddenly, still staring at the ceiling. "I knew I'd have to go out on my own soon enough, but I'm not ready yet. I thought I'd get a few more months of calling this home. That I'd come here after I got off the Hogwarts express for the final time. I just assumed I'd always be able to come back for dinner, or for holidays, or just because I missed it. How can Petunia just sell it? She grew up here too."

Lily finally looked away from the ceiling, stood up, and walked over to where James stood. She picked up one of the dolls from the bureau and smiled at it fondly. "Petunia and I used to play together when we were young. We loved dressing up the dolls and imagining parties, and royal balls, and happily-ever-afters. I did my first bit of accidental magic with these dolls. Petunia had taken the ball gown I wanted for my doll, so I picked up a different dress and wished it was the other one, and when I opened my eyes, it was. It really scared Petunia. She wouldn't play dolls with me after that."

James shifted uncomfortably. He didn't have experience with siblings and his parents had left him their house. He could commiserate with Lily about her parents, but he didn't know what to say to her now.

Lily put the doll back down and looked up at James. "How am I supposed to chose what bits of my childhood to take with me, and what bits to leave behind? I can't take all this stuff back to Hogwarts with me."

"Then don't take it to Hogwarts with you," James replied, smiling because he actually had a way to help her. "You can pack it all up, the whole room, and store it at my house. When you get your own place after we graduate you can come get it. Then, at least, I know you'll have to come visit me at least once after we leave Hogwarts."

Lily overlooked the last statement and beamed back at James. "Really, you'd do that for me? You have no idea how much that would mean to me!" And she threw her arms around his neck. Then to his utter surprise and shock, she kissed him on the cheek.

"You're so different this year," she continued after ending the embrace. "And I don't mean just now. You've cut back on hexing Severus from every other day to only once a week, you've only been in detention five times so far, and half the time you take your Head Boy responsibilities seriously."

"Don't flatter me," James tried to joke while wondering why he was blushing.

"I'm being serious," she replied, sounding it. "I don't think many other girls at Hogwarts have discovered what I know about you."

"Oh, and what have you discovered?" James inquired, unable to hide the smile spreading across his face. Lily Evans was complimenting him.

"You're a dear."

James' smile flickered. How'd she find out? No one was supposed to know. Lily looked at him incredibly strangely. And then the light bulb in his head clicked on, much, much too late. "Oh, you mean I'm sweet," he gasped stupidly.

"What did you think I meant?"

James just shook his head. Stupid homonyms! "Nothing. Want me to help you pack?" He pulled out his wand and summoned a box over to him.

James watched Lily out of the corner of his eye as he gently packed the knick-knacks off her bureau. He saw her crying every once in a while as she worked. She had turned on the Muggle radio and was singing very softly along with the songs she knew as she sorted through the contents of her closet, banishing clothing across the room to one box, shoes to another, and small shoe boxes to yet another box. James bit his lip to keep from asking out of curiosity what were in those shoe boxes, but he couldn't resist when she miscalculated and one skidded to a halt near him.

"What are in all these shoe boxes, Lily?" he asked, picked up the one that had landed by his feet and shaking it a little. It sounded like there were papers inside. He lifted up just one corner of the lid and peeked inside; it was filled with photographs. Lily crossed the room and took the box from James' hands. She pulled off the lid entirely, tipping it slightly to show him the yellowing still photos.

"It's my life before Hogwarts."

James reached out and took a photograph from the top. It was of a seven or eight year old Lily, standing outside her front door next to two glowing, carved pumpkins and all costumed up to go trick-or-treating. She wore a long black dress, which had been torn into strips at the bottom and sleeves. Her face had been painted green and a long, warty nose covered her normal one. She had a wide-brimmed, pointed hat on top of her head. Her right hand grasped the kitchen broom, while her left clutched her trick-or-treat bag.

"What in the world were you supposed to be?"

"A witch," she replied.

James shot her a quizzical look.

"It's what Muggles think witches look like," she clarified as James started to laugh. "I was always something magical for Halloween," Lily continued. "I was the classic Muggle witch one year, the fairy godmother the next, and Glenda the good witch the year after: rather ironic, I know."

* * *

The sun had set by the time Lily and James had finished all the packing. Since she would have to sleep there that night, the only thing left to pack the next morning were Lily's sheets. Feeling hungry, they went down to the kitchen, only to find Petunia and Vernon already there, eating sandwiches. Neither offered any to Lily or James, so Lily crossed over to the refrigerator and pulled out the cold cuts, condiments, and bread. The kitchen remained awkwardly silent the entire time. Vernon and Petunia's conversation stopped mid sentence when Lily had walked in, and neither had said a word since. Once Lily and James made their sandwiches and poured themselves cups of tea, they headed back to Lily's room to eat. Petunia, however, broke the silence with a very audible gasp, and Vernon exclaimed, "what is wrong with that ruddy bird."

Lily and James both looked out the kitchen window and saw an owl they both recognized tapping on the glass, a newspaper clutched all too conspicuously in its talons. James hurriedly placed his plate and tea cup down on the nearest flat surface and headed for the front door, yelling, "Don't worry, I'll scare it away. No one else come out, it might be rabid or something."

Once outside, however, James stalked over the dewy grass and toward the kitchen window. "Come here, Elphias," he whispered, holding his arm out so the owl could land. He took the newspaper in one hand before admonishing his owl for trying to deliver the paper in front of Muggles. The bird, however, didn't seem to care. He clicked his beak at James a few times and then cuffed him in the head as he flew off.

When he re-entered the house, Lily was waiting in the entrance way, balancing all their food.

"Don't worry, it won't be back anytime soon," James called gallantly into the kitchen. "So, did Vernon buy it?" he whispered hopefully to Lily.

"Well enough," she replied. "But Petunia glared at me the whole time. As if it's my fault. What did your owl want anyway?"

"To deliver the Evening Prophet," James answered wryly. "Bloody bird. It once tried to deliver a letter to me during a Quidditch practice. Stupid thing nearly got pulverized by a bludger."

"You get the Evening Prophet? Since when did you follow the news?"

"You make it sound like you're shocked I can read," James retorted. "And yes, I happen to like to keep up with the news. With everything that has been going on recently, I thought it might be good to get the news twice a day."

"So, did anything news worthy happen?" Lily asked as they walked up the stairs.

"Oh, I see how it is," James teased. "Make fun of me, but then want information."

"I'm just as worried about everything that's been going on as you," she replied. "The teachers hardly tell us anything anymore, and Dumbledore can only tell me so much."

"Dumbledore talks to you about…the dark arts?"

Lily blushed slightly, "well, you know, just in passing. He likes to talk to me about the future, like what I'm going to do when I leave Hogwarts."

"Yeah, he asks me about that too," James confessed. "Say, umm, Lily, he hasn't mentioned anything about, errr, helping in, well, an _organization_, I guess I'd call it…"

"He asked you too?" Lily accused, rounding on him.

"Well, you didn't think you were the only student, did you?"

"I, um, no, of course not." She went silent and stayed that way through the sandwiches and tea. However, after she had finished the last bit of tea, she asked hesitantly. "James, what answer did you give him when he asked?"

"I said yes immediately," James replied simply.

"Oh," Lily replied, sounding disappointed.

"Why, what did you say?"

"I told him I had to think about it. It's not that I'm afraid, but, well, it's not important anymore. Now that my parents, well, things have changed, and I'm going to accept now."

"So I guess that means we will be working together after Hogwarts," James mumbled.

"Yeah," Lily replied quietly.

They fell back into awkward silence, though neither could figure out why it was awkward.

Lily finally muttered, "Well, I suppose I ought to figure out where you can sleep."

"Don't worry about it," he replied quickly. "I can just Apparate to my house."

"Don't be absurd, you'd have to light all the fires and everything…" Lily wondered why in the world she was arguing with James Potter in order to make him _stay_ at her house.

"If you insist," he mumbled back, lowering his gaze to the carpet.

Lily blushed. "Well, I'll just set up a cot for you here, then, shall I?"

James' eyes shot up from the floor. Did she mean 'here' as in her bedroom?

Lily didn't seem to notice and continued on. "Petunia and Vernon are sleeping in the guest room since it has a bigger bed than in Petunia's old room." James swallowed a laugh. Petunia would need a very large bed if she was going to share it with her whale of a husband. "And my parents' room, well that isn't appropriate, and Petunia won't let either of us near her old room, and the sofa is old and has no back support…"

James interrupted the rambling, "a cot is fine."

Lily gave a nervous laugh and she waved her wand and a cot, pillows, and blanket appeared on the floor. Surreal wasn't even beginning to cover the way she felt. She and James Potter, nefarious James Potter, were alone in her childhood bedroom, dressed in Muggle formal wear, eating sandwiches, drinking tea, and talking about working together after Hogwarts. Surreal definitely wasn't even close.

* * *

A/N: I must give credit where credit is due. Thanks to Cogit8tor for the idea about using the homonyms dear/deer to bewilder poor James.

I love everyone who reviews. If you want to be loved too, just hit that review button.


	3. Vita Vinculum

Chapter 3

Vita Vinculum

Meetings of any form before eight AM should be illegal, Lily thought irritably. Leave it to Petunia to schedule the meeting with the estate lawyer for 7:30 in the morning the day after the funeral. Lily woke at six AM feeling ten times worse than any hangover she had ever had. The first night without a dreamless draught had not been pleasant. The nightmares had prevented her from sleeping soundly for any period of time, and all the crying over the past couple of days had left her feeling like she had a bad head cold. It was all amplified by the knowledge that she had buried her parents the day before. And now she had to listen to their last wishes.

Mercifully, the will was fairly simple. Everything had been left to Petunia and Lily. The only problem was this required Lily and Petunia to actually cooperate and speak with each other. They did it all before the lawyer, since neither trusted the other to keep their word. Their parents' savings would be split equally between them. Lily granted Petunia the rights to the money from the sale of the house; she really wouldn't need Muggle money for much longer anyway. Finally, with both sisters signing the legally binding document, they left in silence.

James was still sleeping when Lily entered her bedroom. She couldn't help but smile at his sprawled figure on the cot. The blankets were pulled half way down, exposing his bare chest. One leg stuck out awkwardly from beneath the sheets and his arms hung over the edges of the cot. It was a minute before Lily realized she had been staring at him, and quickly chastised herself for it. But for all her self admonishing, she couldn't repress the memories from the night before. Of waking up from the nightmares to always see his worried face hanging over hers. His night couldn't have been that much more restful than hers; no wonder he was still snoring.

Lily quietly finished the very last of the packing. She flicked her wand at her bed and the sheets, pillows, and quilt all folded themselves neatly and soared into an empty box. She was going to leave all the furniture behind. It was too much to pack, even magically. When she found a flat of her own she'd splurge for some new furniture; besides, she couldn't go through her entire life with pink and white flowered furniture.

A tapping noise at the window caught Lily's attention, and she turned to see the same owl from the night before hopping around on the small sill. Lily let him in and he flew immediately over to James, nipping his finger rather hard.

"Ouch!" James bolted upright in the cot. "Bloody bird, what'd you do that for?"

Lily couldn't help but laugh, and it felt surprisingly good. The owl dropped its newspaper on James' stomach and flew back out past her. James sat groggily in his cot, pushing the blankets off farther. Lily blushed as she caught sight of his boxers (they had golden snitches printed on them, by the look of it.) It had been too dark, and she too exhausted, to have noticed what he was wearing every time he woke her from a nightmare.

James noticed his lack of coverage too, and pulled the blankets back up to his armpits. Why did his face feel hot? It wasn't like it was the first time Lily Evans had seen him in his knickers. Padfoot had once dared him to strip naked in the middle of the common room while loudly humming The Stripper, and a marauder never chickened out on a dare. Of course, he had been under the effect of a fair amount of butterbeer. He had never reached the point of being naked anyway. Lily had put the full body bind on him the minute he slipped off his pants, scolding him that he'd make the first year girls go blind. She could really hurl the insults when she wanted to.

He summoned his clothes over to him and dressed under the covers. Once fully clothed, he emerged from his makeshift bed, clutching the freshly delivered newspaper in one hand, while the other rested on his loudly rumbling stomach. Lily laughed at him again from the same spot near the window.

"Come on, I'll find you something to eat."

"Don't worry about me yet," James replied. "I want to know how you are, after having to go…"

She cut him off, "I'm better than I was. Taking it day by day, right?" She flashed a weak smile before continuing toward the door in order to make breakfast. "Anything news worthy happen?"

James unfolded the paper as he followed her out into the hallway. "The ministry thinks they caught one of Voldemort's followers."

"Thinks? Shouldn't they _know_?"

"Claiming he was under the Imperius curse, not that it matters. He's on his way to Azkaban now."

Lily shuddered. "Don't you think they ought to be absolutely sure he's guilty before sending him off to the dementors?"

"Turning into a humanitarian, Lily? In all likelihood he was roaming around torturing Muggles and threatening halfbloods."

"I know, it's just," she shuddered again. "Everything I've ever heard about these dementors, they just go beyond creeping me out."

"But they're the best prison guards the Ministry could ever hope for," James responded. "As long as you don't intend on getting yourself thrown into Azkaban, the dementors actually make life better."

Lily moved over on the stairs to let her sister pass on the way up, but Petunia had stopped to glare at them both. "Be careful what you say," she finally hissed at Lily. "Vernon could have overheard you!" She gave one final huff before marching the rest of the way upstairs.

Lily just shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I don't know what she is complaining about. Vernon _didn't_ hear us, not that it wouldn't have been hilarious if he had, and she'll just forget everything she heard by tomorrow anyway."

After breakfast, Lily and James retreated back to Lily's room one final time. James took care of his cot with one simple sweep of his wand. Lily, however, remained next to her stripped bed, fingering one of the bed knobs while she absently stared out the window. She was leaving for good, never returning. Her parents weren't returning either. She didn't want to say good-bye, but the choice wasn't hers. It didn't matter how powerful of a witch she was, there were some things than even magic couldn't fix.

"I wish I could just mutter 'reparo' and have all the pieces of my life glue themselves back together. But the most important pieces are beyond the reach of the spell, and without them I don't think I'll ever be whole again."

"You won't feel this way forever," James whispered, moving as close to her as he could without actually touching. "That hole you feel, you will never forget that it's there, but it will heal, little by little. It'll take time, more than just months, believe me, but it will get easier."

Lily didn't reply, but moved as if she were going to lean into him, but then, with a jerk, pulled away and grabbed a box. "We had better get these downstairs. We can floo them to your place?"

James nodded, still in shock from what he thought had almost occurred. He picked up a box and followed her out the door. They set them down in the living room, near the unlit fireplace. "You know what, James? I really don't feel like doing this the Muggle way. Petunia is the one forcing me to move all my things out, so I think she can deal with several dozen boxes being flown down the stairs, don't you?"

James knew enough not to answer the rhetorical question, and instead watched in awe as the fiery red head in front of him raised her wand and called, "Accio boxes!"

A second later, a whole line of boxes came zooming down the stairs. Lily directed them into neat piles with her wand. A half a second later, Petunia came thundered down the stairs, looking murderous.

"Hello Petunia, come to stay good-bye?" Lily poked her wand at the fireplace, kindling a roaring magical fire. She knew she shouldn't enjoy this as much as she did, especially since this would likely be the last time she saw her sister in a very long time. Lily, however, knew that if she didn't leave like this, she would leave in tears, and she wouldn't let Petunia see her cry.

Petunia seemed to be speechless from anger. She tried to say something, but her mouth simply moved in uncoordinated jerks.

"James, Apparate ahead and light the fire at your place, then just pop your head into the fire and let me know when you're ready and I'll start flooing the boxes to you." James simply nodded again and Disapparated, thinking Lily's grief had caused her to lose it.

Meanwhile, Petunia found her voice. "What do you think you are doing?" she spit.

"You asked me to pack up my room," Lily replied in a falsely sweet voice. "And now I'm going to floo the boxes over to James' house to store them until I get out of Hogwarts."

"But…you can't…Vernon…if he sees…"

Lily, however, ignored the angry ranting of her older sister and turned back to the fireplace, where James' head bobbed in the flames. "Everything is ready," he told her before his head disappeared with a pop. Lily bit down the urge to smile broadly as she heard Petunia gasp behind her. Her sister would get over it.

Lily took a large fistful of floo powder, tossed it into the flames and waited until they turned green before pointing her wand at the flames and incanting, "Continuum Potter House." With a sucking noise, the flames began to swirl into the magical portal. Lily levitated the first box and directed it into the green flames, sending it spinning into the floo network. Lily continued this, keeping her back to Petunia, who had now fallen silent. Lily focused on moving the boxes, without thinking about the _reason_ she was moving the boxes.

Finally, as the last box containing her former life spiraled through the fireplace, Lily turned back to Petunia. However, Petunia wasn't alone anymore. Vernon stood next to his wife, looking like a deer caught in headlights. The Statute of Secrecy flashed through Lily's mind and she momentarily panicked. She hadn't meant to reveal her secret to Vernon, but simply to annoy Petunia.

"I'm going to go now," Lily mumbled, wishing she hadn't been so rash about using magic. "I don't suppose we'll see each other again, so,yeah. Um, I know you are taking care of the house and everything, but I'll make sure to contact the Ministry of Magic and have the house taken off the floo network. Don't want any unwanted wizards or witches accidentally flooing in, right?" She laughed slightly as tears suddenly jumped into her eyes for some unknown reason. Had she wasted the last days she would likely have with her sister? "Well, good-bye then." She turned and walked into the flames, leaving Petunia to explain to a very confused Vernon the abnormalities of her younger sister.

When the spinning stopped, Lily found herself in a very large room. The fireplace was easily big enough for her to step out of without having to duck, but the fireplace was the last thing she was thinking of. The room in front of her confirmed what she already knew about James, that his parents were rich- had been rich- she corrected herself, now James was rich.

The stones paving a six foot diameter around the fireplace gave way to rich, dark hard wood floors. The walls reflected a deep forest green, and the furniture looked as if it would have been at home in a palace. There was a large tapestry on the opposite wall, on which was embroidered a large Potter family crest with the family tree spreading out below it. Lily had forgotten James was a pureblood. From the looks of the rooms that peeked through the doorways on either side of her, the Potter House was more like the Potter Manor. She wondered vaguely if he had a house elf.

"I'm sorry it's a bit dusty," James mumbled as he noticed Lily's eyes transfixed on the large house. "It's empty now, and it's hard to clean while at Hogwarts…" Well, that answered the question about the house elf.

"Don't worry about it," Lily heard herself mumble. She remained mesmerized by the house. Finally, collecting her senses, she ended the spell on the fireplace and sank softly into one of the large armchairs in front of it. It was surprisingly comfortable. "Do you think you could make me some tea before we go back to Hogwarts?" she asked quietly. Now that the shock of the Potter Manor was over, Lily had returned to the melancholy state she had left home in.

James returned shortly with a tray containing the tea. He handed Lily her cup, then took his and settled into the identical arm chair on her left. He looked at her strangely for a few seconds, but didn't ask what was bothering her.

"Vernon saw," Lily finally choked. But that was only half of what was bothering her. "And Petunia will be furious and that will prevent us from ever reconciling." Her vision was blurry again from the tears. "I don't really hate her," she finally sobbed. "And now I've blown my last bit of time with her, when I should have tried to fix things, at least for the sake of my mother's memory. Instead, I had to flaunt the magic, just to get a rise out of her, and now I've lost my parents _and_ my sister."

James' cup clinked as he set it back down on the tray. Within a second he had moved the few feet necessary to embrace Lily. "Don't be sorry you used magic. You're a witch, you were born a witch, and if your sister can't accept that it isn't your fault. She should be proud of your abilities, not contemptuous. She didn't try any more than you to mend the rift. You have a family at Hogwarts. You're the most popular girl in Gryffindor, and you have friends who love you for you."

"And I didn't even tell them why I wasn't in class. Madam Pomfrey lied for me, and I told Professor McGonagall to tell my friends the truth only after I had left for the funeral. I'm a horrible person!"

"If you're a horrible person, then so am I," James reasoned. "At least you had Professor McGonagall tell your friends. I've kept my parents' death a secret from all but five or six souls. I'll stride confidently into the Dark Forest, wrestle with the giant squid, and play chicken on a broomstick, but I won't admit to everyone that I've suffered a personal loss. You're not the horrible person Lily, not by a long shot."

Lily stopped crying, and sniffed a few times before asking very quietly, "can I ask how they died?"

James pulled his arms back and crouched silently for a few minutes. Lily feared she had been far too nosey. Finally, James answered slowly, as if trying to remember in the least painful way. "They were sick: had been for a long time. And there are things even magic can not cure. Mom was diagnosed first, and Dad not long after. I was only a third year, and they hid it from me for as long as possible. Dad even dragged himself out to play Quidditch with me in the summers. Eventually they couldn't hide it anymore. I was getting suspicious anyway. They told me the summer before my fifth year- over dinner; it was bizarrely casual. That must have been the dam holding it back, because they started progressing much faster after that. They were old as well, even for wizards. They had lost hope of ever having children when I was born. You were right, all those times you called me spoiled. When Sirius moved in last summer they were practically bed ridden, but they were still so supportive. They were purebloods, but they didn't hold with the absolute divinity of blood purity. They welcomed Sirius with open arms. They knew what the Black family was like. I knew they didn't have much time left, so it wasn't a huge shock when McGonagall called me into her office midway through September to tell me they were gone. That's why Sirius and I were gone for a week."

"McGonagall told us that you two had been in a bad broomstick accident during Quidditch practice and had to go to Saint Mungo's. Half the school thought _you_ were dead. You came back with cuts and bruises all over!"

"It was set up. We used charms to make it appear as if we had just recovered from near fatal injuries. It was Sirius' idea really, and I don't think he minded all the attention and fawning he got from the girls afterward."

Lily very much wanted to blurt, 'and I imagine you didn't mind either,' but bit her tongue. Instead she asked tentatively, "so your parents died at the same time?" She couldn't help but find that a little odd, that the disease would kill them the same day.

James nodded. "You might find this convoluted, I know I did when they first suggested it. But my parents loved each other, which, for a pureblood marriage arranged by their parents, is not a common thing. But they truly did love each other, and they knew they were both dying. My coming of age removed the worry of what would happen if they both died before my seventeenth birthday. They decided they would like to die together, that it would save me from having to go through two separate funerals. There is an old spell, Vita Vinculum, that bonds two lives together so that when one dies the other dies. I know it probably sounds ridiculous, but they really wanted this, so I gave them my blessings."

"I don't think it's ridiculous," Lily breathed, her eyes misty. "I think it's one of the most romantic things I've ever heard. If you both must die, who wouldn't want to die with the one they love?"

* * *

A/N: It's so easy to make my day, just click that review button!


	4. Throw Me Off the Astronomy Tower, Please

Chapter 4

Throw Me Off The Astronomy Tower, Please

Freshly fallen snow crunched under their feet as Lily and James walked slowly up the path from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts. The castle loomed into view, frosted white from the snow, with little spouts of gray escaping wherever a chimney perched. Lily couldn't help but remember what James had told her, about Hogwarts being a sort of home for her now that her childhood one was gone. He had been right. She loved the castle the same way she loved her Muggle home. And there were people in there who loved her like family. She could only imagine the reaction waiting for her in the common room. Her friends would have learned the truth from McGonagall, and seeing as it was a Saturday, would likely loiter around the common room, waiting for her to return. She almost wished she could sneak in unseen, which reminded her of an incident a few days before.

"So, James, do you want to tell me about that interesting cloak of yours?" Lily laughed.

James had wondered when that would be brought up. He had hoped she had forgotten about it, so he shrugged off the question, "well, you know, family heirloom, passed down through the Potter line. I only use it for emergencies, of course."

"Of course," Lily chortled, knowing all those times James Potter had seemingly popped out of thin air to ask her on a date were now explained.

The entrance hall was warm, and the chattering of voices could be heard from the Great Hall where lunch was still being served. There were a few students on the stairs, either going or coming to lunch. A loud squeal came from the direction of the Great Hall and Lily suddenly found herself being charged by a tall blonde, who looked a mixture of worried sick and furious.

"Lily! Why didn't you tell me what happened! Oh never mind, it doesn't matter. How are you? I'm here for you, you know that, right? Oh, Lily!"

Lily hugged her best friend back tightly, feeling comfort in her friendly embrace. "I'm sorry Anne, I should have told you. I was just such a mess, I don't know what I was thinking."

Before Anne could respond, Lily heard a new voice ring throughout the hall. Professor McGonagall called "Mr. Potter!" in a voice that could only project one emotion: anger.

"Professor, may I say you look absolutely dashing this afternoon. Are those new robes?" James plastered his face with the most charming smile he could muster.

"Save it, Mr. Potter. What do you think you were doing, leaving Hogwarts for two days without a word to anyone about where you were going?"

"You didn't tell Professor McGonagall you were coming with me?" Lily choked, looking incredulously at James.

"It may have slipped my mind," James mumbled.

"May have?" McGonagall repeated. "Mr. Potter, I do not think you understand the seriousness of the situation you put us in. Except for your friends' testimony that you had requested a suit and told them you would be gone for a few days, we had no idea what had happened to you. I assume you know and understand what is going on outside these walls? What is your excuse for such a lack of judgment, Mr. Potter?"

"I don't have one," James muttered to his feet.

"Then you will have time to think of one during a week's worth of detention, and just be grateful I am not taking any points from Gryffindor. We expect a better example from our Head Boy."

James mouthed 'a week!'

"Yes, Mr. Potter, a week, starting Monday at 9pm in my office. I expect you to be on time."

"Yes Ma'am."

Anne disentangled herself from Lily and gazed back and forth between Lily, James, and their suitcases, which were sitting forgotten on the floor. Comprehension slowly dawned on her face.

Lily grabbed her friend's hand and started toward the common room, hoping to avoid any awkward questions. However, she was just a bit too late, because at that moment three young men exited the Great Hall.

"James, you're back," one proclaimed thickly through a half eaten sandwich.

"And look who he's back with," another chuckled, a sadistic grin spreading across his handsome face.

"Who?" piped the one with the sandwich, but the other one ignored him.

"I'll explain it to you later, Peter," sighed the third one tiredly.

Lily gave James a frantic glance that clearing conveyed, 'don't let them insinuate anything, please.'

James seemed to understand, because he quickly scooped up his suitcase and said cheerily, "see you on Monday, Professor," before joining his friends and guiding them back into the Great Hall under the pretense that he was starving.

Lily sighed in relief. If Sirius had made a scene, there would have been mad rumors flying around the castle about her relationship with James Potter before nightfall. Currently, all she had to do was retreat to the safety of her dormitory where she could calmly explain what had happened to her friends, and her reputation would remain untarnished.

* * *

Tuesday night arrived especially cold and snowy. The fat flakes kept distracting Lily from her homework as they fell past the 7th year girls' dormitory window, lulling her into a sort of distracted trance whenever she looked at them. She had only just torn her eyes away and put her mind back to her Transfiguration homework when Anne arrived to distract her again.

"Rough day," Lily commented as Anne stormed into the dormitory, slamming the door behind her and practically drop kicking her bag and books across the room.

"You mean you haven't heard?" Anne seethed.

"Heard what?"

"James Potter is trying to steal your pity! He practically told the entire school his parents died at the start of term. Leave it to that prat to barge in on your time of need and try to steal the sympathy away from you. He always has to be the center of attention...Lily why are you laughing?"

Lily couldn't help it. Anne's rant was by far the funniest thing that had happened since she had returned. "I don't care, Anne," Lily chuckled, "really, I don't." She then proceeded to swing her legs over the side of her bed and onto the cold floor. Slipping into her shoes, still laughing lightly, she added, "I've got to go do Head Girl rounds. I'll be back late, so good night."

"Good night," Anne responded, clearly not believing Lily didn't care if James stole her sympathy.

Lily wrapped her cloak around her tightly. The common rooms, Great Hall, and classrooms were all kept toasty warm, but the corridors were freezing. This was helpful to deter any trouble makers, but made for Lily's walks to be chilly and boring. The chiming of the Hogwarts bell told her it was eleven o'clock- only one more hour left, she thought wryly. She was strolling slowly down the Transfiguration wing when a door opened just in front of her. Preparing to either greet a Professor or tell off a student, she was mildly surprised when James emerged from the room, rubbing his temples. She had forgotten about his detentions.

"Have fun in detention?" she asked in what she knew was an irritatingly cheerful manner.

James just scowled at her. "She's making me grade first year Transfiguration essays!"

"That's hardly a punishment. She's going easy on you."

"Easy! Have you read any of that junk? We couldn't have been that bad when we were first years. Some of them can barely string two coherent sentences together."

"So, I heard that you told the school about your parents," Lily blurted, ending his rant about first years.

"Well, I only told Marta Jorkins about it, but you know her, she's worse than her older sister, so I imagine she's told everyone by now. You're not upset about it, are you?" he asked tentatively.

"Anne is," Lily laughed. "But I know why you did it, and I'm glad you finally told everyone James."

James looked at the floor for a few seconds, determined not to let Lily Evans see him blush. She was no longer crying hysterically every five minutes, and he was starting to feel like his old self around her again: lustful. He knew he had to be careful, or he would ruin any progress he had made with her. "I'm going to head over to the kitchens for a late night snack. Do you want to come with me?" he asked casually.

"I can't, I still have an hour left on duty."

"Oh come on, Lily," James prodded. "You can always make sure no one is sneaking out of bed to go get a snack."

"Like you, you mean."

"I'm Head Boy," James responded instantly, throwing out his chest so that his badge glittered in the torch light. Lily just shook her head, but finally conceded.

"Fine, I am a little bored, and I'll just get something quick." But Lily couldn't suppress that fact that she felt a little happier when she was around James and she had no idea why. Maybe it was just his company taking her mind off her troubles. When she had to roam the cold, empty halls alone her mind got to thinking about her parents.

James led the way to the kitchens, ducking into several hidden passages Lily hadn't even known existed. Finally they reached the portrait of the bowl of fruit, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at getting the pear the crack up, they finally climbed into the Hogwarts kitchens. Immediately house elves swarmed around them, offering up every variety of food imaginable. James practically ordered a seven course meal, as he sat down at one of the long tables that matched the ones above, and tucked a white napkin into his shirt front.

"Sit down, Lily," he instructed. "Tell the elves whatever you want to eat, and they will get it for you."

Lily sat down slowly, still in shock. She had known where the kitchens were, a Prefect privilege, but had never been inside. Still more unnerving was the willingness of the elves to serve her, something she was not at all used to. "Maybe I'll just have some fruit," she mumbled and half a minute later there were four elves holding a huge platter heaped with every fruit imaginable. Feeling guilty to only take one thing, Lily selected a shiny red apple to eat then, and pocketed an orange and a peach for later. James heartily tucked in to a bowl of steaming potato soup across the table from her.

They ate in silence, though it was surprisingly not awkward. In the few moments between James' finishing his soup and the elves bringing him a serving of left over pot roast Lily asked a question that had been burning at her ever since she had learned her parents had died.

"James, do you ever feel like you could have, should have, done more, and that if you had you could have saved them?"

He looked up at her, the serious look he had worn during the funeral back on his face. "Lily, there was nothing you could have done."

"But how can I know that?" she insisted, her voice cracking with emotion. "I'm a witch. They were so proud of my magical powers. I should have been there. I could have done something. I could have melted the ice on the road, or transfigured the mountain into a pillow, or _something._"

"Lily, trust me. I used to think this too. I should have studied harder, searched the Hogwarts library more thoroughly, attempted new potions. Maybe I could have found something that would have helped. Sirius practically had to hammer it into me that there was nothing I could have done. If professional Healers and Medi-Wizards couldn't help, then I shouldn't be beating myself up. You weren't there Lily, and there was no reason you should have been, and even if you had been, it could have happened so fast that even magic couldn't have helped, and you might be dead too."

Lily knew he was right, but she still couldn't shake the guilt.

"Sometimes I think we have been spoiled by magic," James continued. "We are too used to being able to fix things that break, make things pop out of thin air, and heal cuts and broken bones in an instant. But, and this is what Voldemort doesn't understand, when it comes to the important things, like true love and loss, we are just as powerless as the Muggles."

Lily looked at James in silent awe. "You sound like Dumbledore," she finally muttered.

James laughed lightly. "I might have borrowed that last bit from him. It's what he told me after my parents died."

* * *

The school year continued on its unalterable way. Lily found herself seeking James out whenever she felt depressed, and she had started to almost look forward to their patrols together at night. The only thing that bothered her, oddly enough, was the fact that as much as she wanted everything to go back to the way it had been before her parents had died, there was one thing preventing it. Never, in the three weeks since they had returned had James asked her on a date. He hadn't even made a single innuendo, and neither had Sirius, which Lily figured was because James had ordered him not to. And to Lily's great mental anguish, instead of this new development pleasing her, it bothered her. She was so used to turning down his advances that when they weren't there she felt like something was missing. Maybe that was the reason she did the most insane thing of her entire life.

"Anne!" Lily practically yelled as she ran into the dormitory. "I'm holding you to your word!"

Anne looked at Lily like she was mad. "What are you on about?"

"Do you remember the pact you made with me in our third year? I made you swear that if I ever said yes to one of James Potter's dates you'd throw me off the Astronomy Tower. Well, I'm holding you to your word."

"Lily, you didn't say yes, did you?" asked Anne, looking scandalized.

"Worse!" Lily shrieked. She didn't care that her other roommates were listening. "I've lost my mind. _I _asked _him_ to Hogsmeade, completely forgetting that it was Valentine's Day weekend."

"And did he say yes?"

"He's James Potter, of course he said yes!"

"Well tell him you've changed your mind."

"I can't do that."

"Why not? When have you ever cared about hurting his feelings?"

"Because, oh Merlin, please throw me off the tower. Because, Anne, I think I actually want to go with him!"

"He's clearly slipped you a love potion over dinner. Don't worry, we'll go down to Slughorn and get an antidote."

Lily stopped pacing wildly and relaxed. Of course, she must be under the effect of a spell. She'd be sure to get James back for this, but she was also happy to know things were going back to normal.

When she and Anne went down to see the potions master, he performed a charm to find out which potion she had injested. The results: there was no potion. Lily had acted of her own accord.

* * *

A/N: Hope you all liked it. Please fill up my mail box with all those reviews!


	5. Of Growing Up and Ghosts

Chapter 5

Of Growing Up and Ghosts

Lily Evans found no solace in sleep leading up to the Hogsmeade weekend. Her subconscious continuously led her back to the instant she had asked out James Potter. There she stood, looking down into the dream pensive as the scene played out before her. She saw herself, performing her Head Girl rounds and then meeting up with James in order for him to take over the patrol. She saw herself nervously flick back her hair, and pull at her hands as she talked to the man who literally could drive her insane.

"Don't do it," her dream self would scream at the memory. "Don't do it, you fool! Anne is a lousy friend. She won't chuck you off the astronomy tower like she promised. Don't do it."

But no matter how much protest her dream self put up, the memory continued to play on. James would smile slightly, as Lily struggled with the words. She heard herself ask "do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

Lily's dream self sank to her knees, pulling at her hair. What could have made her do something so stupid? She didn't need to continue to watch the memory to know what happened. James' smile practically threatened to split his stupid, handsome face. He answered "yes" without hesitation. The deed was done.

With a start, Lily woke from her dream, drenched in cold sweat. The same dream had plagued her for the past week, and with a sick feeling in her stomach she realized today was the Hogsmeade trip. Dragging herself out of bed, she leaned out the window in hopes of seeing someone practicing on the Quidditch pitch. At least then she could go down to the field in hopes of being knocked unconscious by a stray bludger. Unfortunately, all the teams seemed to have the day off in preparation for the Hogsmeade visit.

Anne walked out of the adjoining bathroom at that moment, and Lily gave her one final, pleading look.

"I am not throwing you off the astronomy tower," Anne responded lazily. "But I will help you get ready for your date."

Lily glared daggers at her best friend. "I'm not doing anything special. I'm just going in plain old normal clothes, no fancy hair, and_ no_ makeup."

"What about perfume, or jewelry?" Anne smirked, holding a necklace in one hand and a thin blue bottle in the other. She ducked as a pillow came flying in her direction.

* * *

When Lily Evans finally escaped her dormitory after half an hour of arguing and compromises, she had to admit she looked good. Anne had forced a sweater over her head, which mercifully high cut, was also skin tight and showed off every curve of Lily's torso. In exchange for no makeup, Lily had allowed Anne to hang a dainty necklace from her neck along with matching earrings. The perfume had almost been the crushing issue, but Lily finally got Anne to put away the flowery smelling bottles for a hair brush instead. Her long red hair now flowed freely past her shoulders, framing her face in comparison to its usual messy tieback.

Breakfast was in full swing when Lily and Anne appeared in the Great Hall. Lily tried to ignore James, who sat at the other end of the table openly gawking at her. She didn't think she looked _that_ good. But all too soon the toast, eggs, and bacon were gone and Anne stood up.

"Save me, please, someone," Lily moaned as she automatically picked up her cloak from beside her.

"It's a date, not an execution," Anne shot back. "Honestly, it's not going to kill you to go out with James one time."

But Lily couldn't explain to Anne the fact that surviving was the very thing she feared. What if she ended up having fun, what if she ended up going on more dates with James? She would be the biggest hypocrite in the entire school. She had once told off an entire group of fourth year girls for giggling over James in the common room. What had she scolded them with? Oh yes, 'only the most shallow, Slytherin wannabe would degrade herself and the entire female race by agreeing to date the pig head known as James Potter.' Damn her tongue.

* * *

James waited for her in the entrance hall. His posse had gone on ahead of him, though not far enough from the doors to be out of cat call range. Lily felt her face redden at the far off whistle she received from Sirius. He had yelled something too, but luckily it hadn't reached her ears.

"You look great," James said instantly and honestly when he saw Lily, running a hand through his already tussled hair.

He looked great too, she thought against her own desires. His chocolate, turtle neck sweater matched his brown eyes, which only seemed to be enhanced, rather than hidden, by his glasses. And the tight fabric made it impossible to ignore his Quidditch player physique. "Thanks" she muttered as she tossed her cloak over her shoulders and fastened it tightly.

The clear, but cold February day caused every breath they took to rise like steam from their lips. Lily pulled her cloak tighter, pulling the hood over her ears and shoving her hands into gloves. James didn't bother with his hood, but kept his hands in his pant's pockets.

"So what do you want to do in Hogsmeade?" he asked. Was that nervousness she sensed in his voice?

"Well, seeing as it is Valentine's Day everyone will be going to Madam Puddifoot's…" Lily stopped and laughed as James uttered an involuntary moan. "But I see your experiences there have been about as good as mine, so I suggest the Three Broomsticks instead."

The Three Broomsticks was very crowded, as was usual for a Hogsmeade weekend. Lily was torn between the thought of so many people seeing her on a date with James and the thought that at least a place so crowded couldn't be considered romantic. James bought two butterbeers and led them to a table in the corner near the back. He refused to accept any gold from Lily. "This is a date, after all," he reminded her. "And I'm a gentleman."

Lily couldn't help but snort into her butterbeer.

"What, don't you think I'm a gentleman?" asked James, feigning a hurt voice. They both knew Lily could spend hours counting the ways James wasn't a gentleman.

"You've been more of a gentleman lately," she told him quietly. "I'm not used to you being so…not arrogant."

"Yeah," James replied solemnly. "I look back, especially on fifth year, and I can't believe how conceited I was. Funny thing, being forced to grow up. It changes the way you look at the world. That was the good that came out of my parents' deaths. I finally got a clue to what the real world was."

"I wonder if I will ever find any good from my parents' deaths," Lily mused.

They had fallen back on their old standby for conversation: their parents. And that's what they stuck to until they could no longer ignore their empty butterbeers or the annoying enchanted hearts that kept singing sickeningly sweet love songs in the background.

"Where do you want to go next?" Lily inquired, hoping it wasn't going to be Zonko's.

"Shrieking Shack," James grunted, enjoying the shocked look on Lily's face.

"Why do you want to go there?" she demanded as they left the Three Broomsticks, trying to hide the fact she felt uncomfortable being anywhere near the building the residents of Hogsmeade were fast deeming the 'most haunted building in Britain.'

"Scared?"

"Of course not."

"Good." James trudged along the packed snow path toward the boarded up building. "See, it doesn't seem haunted today," he commented as they looked at the quiet house. Lily, however, was still not keen on going any closer. "What, still scared?"

"I'm not scared," she said through gritted teeth. This was the old James now, the annoying one. "I just think that house is very odd. No one can seem to remember when it was built or for whom, so it must be very old. But I've checked all sorts of books in the library about haunted buildings and the history of structures in Hogsmeade and the surrounding area. There is no mention of it anywhere."

James looked uncomfortable for a second, or maybe it was just his shock to learn that Lily would investigate something non-school related so thoroughly. "You really are a brilliant witch," he finally mumbled. "And as such, I don't know why you should be so afraid. Come on, let's get closer."

"Closer?" Lily choked. But it was too late, James had taken the lead, grasping Lily's hand firmly in his own and dragging her closer to the looming building. He didn't let her hand go until they were standing beside one boarded up window.

"See, nothing to be afraid of," he stated, waving his arm at the building.

Indeed, Lily could hear no noises from within. The wailing and screaming that the villagers claimed they heard every so often were not present.

James became even bolder, knocking on the boarded windows and listening. Lily realized he had dragged her up here to show off how brave he was. Few wizards would go tap on the window of a highly haunted building without any fear. Her own apprehension quickly disappeared too. The Shrieking Shack seemed nothing more than a sad, dilapidated old building that probably sounded really spooky in the wind at night. Not one to be easily shown up by James Potter, Lily tapped on the boards covering the window as well.

The words "I think you're right, James," had barely left her mouth when she froze. She had just heard what sounded like someone or something scratching against the inside of the window. She took one very large step back from the building.

"Did you hear that?" she managed to croak.

"Hear what?"

Oh good, she was either going mad or James was deaf. The scratching seemed to stop, but the next instant the window shook violently, like something was trying to pry away the boards. Lily took another very large step backward. James must have seen that.

"Lily what's wrong?"

Is he blind now? "Watch the window," she whispered, barely audibly.

The window, though, had stopped shaking. Maybe she really was going mad. She was beginning to entertain the thought when there was a very loud crash and the whole side of the house shook, as if many things were being hurled against the wall simultaneously. Mad or not, Lily wasn't stupid. She turned tail and ran all the way back to the path, presuming that James would have noticed _that_ and be right behind her.

If Lily had looked back, however, she would have seen James practically doubled up with laughter in the snow, still next to the boarded up window. She also would have heard much less ghostly noises.

"Was that it, Prongs? Really, we were just getting started. Why'd you have to get a skittish one?"

"Sorry Padfoot, I didn't think Evans was that jumpy. I thought we could at least get those flares into play. So much for our theory on picking up women based on Muggle horror films."

"Can we leave now?" Remus called from inside. "You know I hate being in here."

"I know, I'm sorry Moony. Come find me. I owe you guys some butterbeers."

* * *

One paper bag, courtesy of Zonko's, and twenty minutes later, Lily had finally stopped hyperventilating and could now control her own heartbeat and respiration again. When James found her he looked more amused than worried, and Lily had the distinct notion he knew something she didn't.

"I'm not crazy, you saw the walls shake, right?" were the first words she uttered to him.

"Yes, that I saw. I'm sorry Lily. I've been up there tons of times and never had anything like that happen before."

"And is there a reason you didn't run away screaming too?"

"I don't spook easily."

Lily just glared at him.

"Though you must admit, I bet this was the most eventful date you've ever had."

That was bold of him, Lily thought. Of course, he was right. She had definitely never been chased away from the shrieking shack by ghosts on a date before.

"Do you want to go back up to the castle?"

Lily nodded. "I'm sorry to cut our date short."

"It's ok, I understand. I'll walk you up to the school."

They made pleasant small talk all the way back to Hogwarts. Despite nearly having her heart explode out of her chest, Lily had an enjoyable time. At the main doors to the castle, James held her back by pulling on one of her gloved hands.

"Lily, truthfully, why did you ask me to go to Hogsmeade with you?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I really don't. Trust me, I thought grief had made me go mad at first."

"And now?" he prompted.

"And now, it doesn't matter the reason, because I actually did have a good time, James, even if I almost did get attacked by vicious ghosts. But now it's my turn to ask you something. Why after all those years of being rejected by me, did you never cease? And, why after my parents died, did you stop?"

"That was two questions," James joked. "Rejection never stopped me, because except for you, I knew I could have any girl I wanted if I was persistent enough. Cocky, I know. You were the only one who wouldn't give in just to get me to shut up. You were the challenge, Lily Evans. Though, this year I wasn't so keen on the challenge, for two reasons really. As I told you over our butterbeers, my parents' deaths made me realize there are more important things than asking girls out. Then, after being with you through the same experience, you weren't a challenge anymore Lily. You became a confidant, a friend."

"And what am I now," she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

James, however, just laughed lightly and smiled at her. "That's up to you to decide. I'll see you in the common room later." And with that he kissed her forehead softly and started back down the path to Hogsmeade.

At the gates of Hogwarts James was met by Sirius, Remus, and Peter, though Lily swore they had left for Hogsmeade before her and James. And what was "that's up to you to decide," supposed to mean?


	6. The Power of Suggestion

Chapter 6

The Power of Suggestion

James lounged in the Three Broomsticks, surrounded by Sirius, Remus, and Peter, who were all joking and laughing. James joined in occasionally, but under the surface he analyzed his date with Lily Evans. He had been shocked when she asked him out. If someone had given him a multiple choice question asking what Lily Evans was least likely to ever do, he would have chosen "asking James Potter out on a date." It wouldn't have mattered if the other choices included "attending class naked" and "snogging Severus Snape." He would have bet his family fortune on her never asking him out.

That had been the reason behind his practical joke. Without knowing why Lily had asked him out, he hoped to avoid romance on the date. Scaring her silly with false ghosts seemed a good way to do so, even if he did feel a little bit guilty about it now. Maybe they would have a romantic date eventually, but that would be up to her. He had meant it when he told her that it was up to her to decide what their relationship would be. He would wait, watch, and read her actions. If she started to warm up to him more, he would ask her out, and then they would have their romantic date. Besides, he couldn't leave Hogwarts without asking Lily out just one more time.

* * *

Lily quickly realized what "that is up to you to decide" meant. It meant she had to make all the moves. Over the next two weeks she waited for James to say something to her. He said nothing. She did noticet he was exceptionally open to her advances though. If she was doing her homework in the Common Room, he would not join her unless she asked him to. If he was sitting by the fire, he would welcome her with conversation if she sat down beside him. However, if she were by the fire, he would sit elsewhere. He would talk about their date only if she brought it up. Lily was bright enough to know that he wasn't acting this way by accident. She had to sort out her feelings about him before he'd reveal his true feelings about her. Unfortunately, figuring out her own feelings was interrupting both Lily and Anne's study time.

"I hate how he just sits over there, so smug. That…" Lily launched into a string of less than complimentary adjectives to describe James.

"Well if that's how you feel, I don't see what you are stressing over," Anne replied, slightly annoyed. "Stop thinking about James and focus on your Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, and the billion other things we need to concentrate on in order to pass the N.E.W.T's."

"This is his fault," Lily hissed, "that I can't concentrate. Why couldn't he have just given me an answer to my question about our status?"

"And if his answer would have been, 'we're a couple,' what would you have done, honestly?"

Lily was silent for a moment. "At least I would be able to study right now."

Anne mumbled something into her essay that sounded suspiciously like "or snog in a closet."

"Excuse me?"

Anne smiled widely. "Nothing, Lily dear. I don't know why you are having such a hard time with this. Do you, or do you not, have feelings for him? It's not a hard question, really. And you shouldn't be embarrassed. Practically every girl in the school has been given the love bug by James Potter. Remember my little obsession in second year?"

"I don't know what my feelings are," Lily moaned.

"Ok, let's play emotion association. I'll give you two phrases and you tell me what emotion they cause in you." As Lily nodded consent, Anne whispered under her breath, "then at least we might get some studying done." Lily ignored it.

"Ok, ready? If I say Head Boy and long patrols together at night, you feel?"

"Comfort."

"Gryffindor Chaser and death defying plummet to Earth."

"Worried."

"Albatross and banana."

"What?"

"Well, I decided I needed a control group. Ok, last one. James Potter and a condom."

"Anne!" Lily screeched, trying to will the blush that flushed her face, and at the same time blink away the unwelcome mental image. "That emotion would be disgust!"

"Does disgust usually make you blush?"

Damn her.

"If you want a sure fire way to figure out your feelings, I can give you one, but I promise you won't like it," Anne continued.

Lily eyed up her best friend, trying to decide if she really wanted to hear the advice or not. Anne, however, didn't wait for a reply. She just rambled on, "If you really want to find out how you feel about James, just kiss him. He's right over there, just go up to him and plant one on his lips. You'll know how you feel afterward."

"Yeah, embarrassed," Lily returned. "I'm not kissing him in a packed common room."

"So if it was an empty common room?"

"Anne!"

"Lily, if you don't figure out your feelings soon, not only will you be confused about him, but you'll be doing your homework alone. I have no intention of letting James ruin _my _N.E.W.T scores."

* * *

Lily could have cursed Anne. She had planted the idea of kissing James in Lily's head and now she couldn't get rid of it. Every time she saw James, her eyes would be drawn unconsciously to his lips. Sirius had even caught her staring at James from across the common room one evening, which had caused a very early retreat to her bed in order to escape the impending humiliation. If she was going to kiss him, and she told herself that she wasn't, but if she was, she wouldn't do it in front of Sirius. That would be social suicide. These thoughts all ran through Lily's head as she walked the lonely corridors, cloak pulled tight against the chill and eyes alert for troublemakers. She found one. Of course, he was also the Head Boy.

"Hello, Lily, having a boring night as well?"

Anne's words flooded back in full force, 'if you really want to find out how you feel about James, just kiss him.' But Anne's voice didn't stop there, it echoed through her brain, picking up Lily's own private thoughts. 'Sirius isn't here. No one is here to see.'

"Lily?"

Oh, wait, he had asked her a question. "Yeah, boring," she responded distractedly. She was going to throw Anne off the Astronomy Tower for planting the kissing thought in her head.

"Lily, are you alright? You seem a little…distant."

A familiar feeling began to overwhelm her body and mind. The same feeling that had engulfed her just before she had asked him to Hogsmeade. Don't do it, Lily, she told herself. Just tell him you're fine and walk away.

"No, I'm fine, just…just tired. Thanks." Good girl. Now walk away. Her feet moved obediently, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, her subconscious had different plans. Her feet pivoted and she felt her arm reach out to grasp James' wrist. Before she could stop herself she had lifted herself onto the balls of her feet, leaned forward, and kissed James square on the lips.

James tensed, for about half a second after Lily's lips met his, before he relaxed again, using his free hand to encircle Lily's waist and draw her closer to him. He could smell the scent of her shampoo on her hair. It was intoxicating. Under her robes, he could feel her slender waist and warm body that brushed against his as she breathed. Forgetting he had been trying to take things slow, and build a friendship first, he kissed her back, deepening the exchange.

Some coherent thought managed to crawl back to the foggy surface of Lily's brain and she became aware of her actions again. Without thinking beyond that thought, she pulled away from James' kiss. For a few seconds they just stared at each other, bodies still pressed together. Lily felt as if her body was on fire. Not like being burned alive, but like standing prolonged in the flames of a fire place before flooing. Pleasant warmth shot up and down her spine. Her heart raced and her knees felt weak. What was wrong with her? The answer came like an unforgivable curse, inescapable and incurable. She tore herself from James' arms and ran back down the corridor she had just come from. She finally stopped near the owlery, but only because her lungs were absolutely demanding it.

"Oh dear Merlin," she exclaimed to no one, "I'm in love with him."

* * *

Lily thought the common room would be empty when she finally meandered in. It was hours past the time she should have gone to bed, and her body knew it. She would worry about the consequences of the kiss tomorrow. Right now, she just really wanted to curl up in her blankets and sleep.

However, the common room wasn't empty. James was stretched out on a sofa, but appeared to be asleep. Lily tried to tiptoe to the spiral stairway leading to the girls' dormitory, but he must have heard because he cracked open one eye then sat up, stuffing a piece of parchment into his robes.

"Lily." He jumped to his feet, looking at her. She stood, looking back at him. How could she explain what had happened when she didn't fully understand it herself? Yet, at the same time, part of her wanted to run at him and kiss him again. She was determined to control that part of her, though, this time.

James had moved forward, so that he was only half a foot from her. "Lily," he said again.

What did he want her to say? Lily stared at her hands, but a gentle hand lifted her chin so that she stared back at two hazel eyes. "I'm sorry, James," she whispered. "I didn't mean to do that. You must think I'm such a tease, first the date, then the kiss."

"Lily, do you _like_ me?"

She knew he wasn't talking about friendship as she nodded. He smiled when he saw her answer. Not his usual wide, cocky grin, but a genuine, sincerely happy smile.

"Good," he finally said, breaking the silence once more. "Lily Evans, will you be my girlfriend?"

Lily laughed, she couldn't help it. Those words must have escaped his lips just to meet rejection countless times over the past five years. But as she laughed, she nodded and threw her arms around his neck. Neither moved in for another kiss, but just stood in the dying fire light, arms wrapped tightly around the other.

Lily felt her body relax for the first time since her parents had passed away. She felt comfort, and warmth, and love, and happiness all at once. Breathing deeply, a wonderful familiar scent filled her senses. She couldn't identify what it was. Perhaps it was soap, or fabric softener, or cologne, but she knew she liked it. And she knew she had smelled it before, a year earlier, when Professor Slughorn had shown them the Amortentia potion. She almost laughed again at her realization. She never needed to kiss James to find out her feelings, she could simply have just sniffed him.

* * *

The following week was one of the best in Lily's entire life. She discovered, despite initially worrying about being a hypocrite, that she really didn't care what anyone else thought. The news, of course, had spread like wildfire throughout the entire school within a day, though neither Lily nor James could trace it back to the source. The culprit was certainly one of their close friends, but no one would fess up to the crime.

Anne had taken the news extremely well. In fact, she gave herself all the credit since she had suggested the kiss. Sirius had taken the news well also. He might have even been happy for his best friend, however, it seemed the most pleasing aspect about Lily and James' relationship was the crude jokes he could now crack about it. Lily quickly learned to apply the annoyance she once felt for James' immaturity entirely on Sirius, who every day acted more and more like an eight year old who knew far too much about the facts of life.

Remus surprised Lily with his reaction. Lily had always liked Remus because of their shared Prefect duties in past years, and tended to see him as being corrupted by James and Sirius. She had also always suspected that he might have a small crush on her as well. So, she was more than pleased when he quietly pulled her aside the hallway and told her how happy he was that she and James had gotten together. He hoped that she might be a good influence on James, and asked if she knew anyone who might be willing to tackle the problem known as Sirius Black. Remus seemed legitimately worried about Sirius entering the real world with the ability to legally perform magic and a rapidly decreasing maturity level. Peter, well, Lily wasn't sure what Peter thought. He never said much to her and in her opinion always seemed to think whatever James, Sirius, or Remus thought, so she guessed he was happy with the news as well.

The hand holding and secret kisses had Lily on cloud nine. However, she felt truly euphoric when she discovered James was planning a surprise date for them. She had accidentally overheard him talking with a fifth year Prefect. He convinced the girl to switch him hall monitor shifts on Friday, so that he would have the night off. Lily had mentioned to him earlier that she had Friday night off for once, so she was sure he was planning a romantic evening. However, Thursday came with no mention of Friday at all, forcing Lily to see if she could weasel it out of him.

"So, James, are we doing anything tomorrow night?" she asked innocently as they sat by the Gryffindor fire, both working on Potions essays.

James barely even lifted his quill from his parchment. "I can't Lil, I have to do a patrol tomorrow night, I'm sorry."

He wants to surprise me with the date, Lily thought. He really can be romantic and sweet when he wants to be.

But by lunch on Friday James was still pretending he had Head Boy duty that night, and the charade was getting a little old for Lily's taste. Lily finally decided she would try and pry the information she wanted out of Remus after their last class. However, he was looking rather ill by the time their final lesson was over, and Lily heard him tell James, Sirius, and Peter that he was going to go see Madam Pomfrey. They all seemed very worried about him, and Lily didn't want to bother him with trivial stuff about her and James.

James, Sirius, and Peter were all far too quiet at dinner. Maybe it was Remus' absence, but Lily had the feeling that there was both great anticipation and great anxiety below the surface of the silence. Sirius and Peter kept sending her shifty glances all through their stew, and James avoided all conversation. What the hell was going on? He had practically worshiped her all week, and now he was acting like he wished she wouldn't eat with him. He had better tell her about the date, or it was going to loose the romance real soon.

Back in the common room, James remained aloof, and while Lily was distracted by Anne, vanished along with Sirius and Peter. Fed up with the game, Lily decided to go visit Remus in the hospital wing and ask him if he knew what was going on with James. Besides, he would probably appreciate some mature company. However, Remus was not in the hospital wing when Lily arrived, and Madam Pomfrey very awkwardly told her that she had not seen him all day. This made matters even more confusing, since Lily was sure she had heard Remus say he was going to the infirmary. Had he perhaps gotten sick on the way, dodged into a bathroom, and had passed out there? Madam Pomfrey, however, ushered Lily back out into the corridor, telling her that her fears were unfounded.

Confused, and more than a little agitated at James, Lily began to walk back to the common room. Through the windows she could see the grounds covered in the thick black of night. The full moon had yet to rise and provide its pleasant glow. Lily had always liked how the full moon illuminated the night.

As she passed one of the corridors leading to the Great Hall and the entrance, she heard a familiar voice. James was complaining quietly, but distinctly, about something.

"I still can't believe you got it confiscated, Padfoot. What were you doing with it? Honestly, I let you have it for one night…"

"Shut it, Prongs," came the unmistakable voice of Sirius. She should be able to see them, but the hallway was visible entirely to the other end. Sirius spoke again, but it was further away. They were moving away from her. "I didn't mean for Filch to get his rotten hands on it. I'm going to be dead when he finds out I've skipped detention tonight, but it's worth it for Moony."

"A lot of good it will do Moony if we get caught on our way out, since we don't have the map."

"Can't we just nip it back from Filch's office," came a third voice that Lily recognized as belonging to Peter.

"No," James replied, but his voice was rapidly fading. "If we did that, Filch would think Padfoot took it and he'd get in even more trouble. So unless you feel like explaining how we created that map to Dumbledore- because you know if anyone could figure out how to work it, it would be Dumbledore- we just have to let Filch keep it. Now be quiet, or we'll all get caught."

All of the sudden, a piece of the puzzle feel into place within Lily's brain. James had an invisibility cloak. Pulling out her wand, she pointed it at the floor of the corridor. "Vestigium Nuper," she whispered. The floor glowed for a second before three sets of footprint appeared on the stone, visible to only Lily's eyes. She smiled. She had never thought that a tracing spell would come in handy at Hogwarts. Normally there were too many people walking, but since it was late, and the spell only revealed the more recent footprints, she had a trail that would lead her straight to James.

Lily couldn't help but feel a bit like a spy in one of those Muggle films her father had always enjoyed watching. She walked slowly, to ensure that James, Sirius, and Peter wouldn't spot her, and ducked into doorways whenever she heard a noise. The footprints glowed all the way to the entrance hall, where they proceeded out the door. Lily followed silently, shivering since she had not brought her cloak, having thought she would only be visiting the hospital wing.

She crept along the path of glowing footprints, wishing the moon would rise fully so she could see better, but stopped suddenly when she once again heard the voice of her boyfriend and his two friends. Lily squinted into the darkness, trying to discern where the boys were. She could make out the waving silhouette of the Whomping Willow. It was said Professor Sprout had been highly entertained by it on her travels the summer before Lily's first year, so a specimen had been brought back to plant at Hogwarts. Since then, five people had almost lost their eyes, and countless others had suffered broken ribs while trying to complete a popular dare to touch the trunk. Were those idiots trying to do the same?

The moon finally peeked above the horizon, shedding soft lift across the grounds. Lily shrunk into the shadows cast by the Hogwarts walls to avoid being detected, as the forms of James, Sirius, and Peter became clearer. Having pulled off the invisibility cloak, they stood just beyond the reach of the dangerous branches. Sirius gazed up at the moon wearily.

"Get to it, Wormtail," James instructed.

Peter nodded, and Lily had to bite her tongue hard to prevent herself from screaming as Peter's body began to dissolve into some grotesque form, becoming smaller and smaller as it did so. Finally, Lily could see nothing except a small creature scurrying along the ground, avoiding the branches of the violent tree. It reached the base and suddenly the tree froze. Lily was having a hard time digesting what she was seeing. Peter couldn't possibly be an animagus like McGonagall. He could barely transfigure a teacup properly.

However, her tongue received another hard bite when James and Sirius also began to change shape. They, however, did not shrink to as small a size as Peter. Instead, Lily found herself staring transfixed at a noble stag and huge, furry dog. The dog barked joyfully toward the tree, and both he and the deer moved into the still frozen branches of the Whomping Willow. However, as they reached the trunk they disappeared into a hole Lily had never noticed before. There must be some sort of cavern below the tree, because she could hear the barking of the dog echoing up from below. She moved closer, with every intention of following her boyfriend, but the tree, now unfrozen, prevented her from getting anywhere close to the opening. Finally, Lily admitted defeat and went back to the Gryffindor common room. She still couldn't register what she had seen, but she understood enough to know that James, Sirius, and Peter were all animagi. Just wait till she found James the next day, wouldn't he be in for a surprise.


	7. Overcompensating for Something?

Chapter 7

Overcompensating for Something?

Lily paced the common room. It was almost two in the afternoon, where was James? She hadn't seen any of his friends either, which caused her to assume they were either still out making merry or sleeping in their beds after a late night.

It was nearly dinner by the time James appeared, looking rather groggy but also exhilarated. He was talking excitedly with Sirius and Peter about something, but he stopped suddenly when he saw the look Lily shot him from the bottom of the staircase.

"James, I need to talk to you," she said in a voice that left no room for argument.

"Wha… ok," James replied, following her obediently out the portrait hole. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Take me to one of those hidden short cuts you are always using," she ordered. "I'd like some privacy."

James looked confused, but he had been dating the fiery redhead long enough to know when she meant business. He led her to a passage concealed behind a tapestry. Once they were inside Lily turned on him.

"You're a deer!" she hissed.

"I know I'm sweet," James replied, wondering why she had brought him all the way out here to tell him that.

"No, not dear as in sweet," Lily spat back, "deer, as in the animal. You're an animagus!"

The color drained from James' face in an instant. "How'd you find out?" he coughed through his shock.

"I saw you last night," she replied, still angry. "And Sirius and Peter too, by the Whomping Willow."

"Shit."

"You know it's illegal, right? I went to the library to check this morning, none of you are registered. And I somehow doubt you learned it the legal way, or took the Ministry test and got a license."

"So are you angry because I didn't tell you or because it is illegal?"

"Both! I want an explanation!"

"I can't give you one," he replied seriously. "It's not just me who is involved."

"Does Dumbledore know? Or McGonagall?"

The look on James' face told her that they didn't. "You aren't going to tell them, are you?" he asked in a horrified voice.

Lily almost laughed at the terror in his voice. "Not if you give me a reason not to."

"I already told you, I can't," said an exasperated James. "Look, I, we, did it for a friend. That's all I can tell you right now. Just, please, don't tell anyone."

It wasn't enough for Lily. He still hid something from her. "Fine," she seethed. "When you can tell me more, come find me, and then maybe we can discuss dating again too." She stormed back out through the tapestry, leaving a very stunned James in her wake.

* * *

It had been a week since the fight. Lily began to regret her actions, but she still couldn't hide the anger she felt about James refusing to tell her the truth. He was doing something illegal, for Merlin's sake. She deserved an explanation as to why she should continue dating a criminal. Her only consolation was that he seemed miserable too, though apparently not miserable enough to make him attempt to reconcile her with the truth. It was a pity, too. She had really liked him.

"Hey, Lily!" a friendly voice greeted from behind her. She turned around to see Remus walking back from class, his arms full of books. He looked tired, and had a few strange scratches on his face, but otherwise appeared healthier than the last time she had seen him.

"Hello, Remus, feeling better?"

"For now," he replied with a weak smile. "Lily, I was wondering if I could talk to you about James?"

Lily blinked once or twice in surprise. "I suppose he asked you to," she finally replied.

"Well, no actually. He's too good a friend to ask, but I can see how much you mean to him."

Lily was now intrigued enough to accept. She once again found herself inside a hidden short cut, this time stealthily concealed behind a suit of armor. She became even more intrigued when Remus cast an anti-eavesdropping charm around them.

"James tells me you saw him, Sirius, and Peter transform into their animagi forms."

Lily nodded, hoping he would continue without prompting.

"And I'm sure that raised a lot of questions, questions that I know he couldn't answer satisfactorily."

"He said all he could tell me was that he did it for a friend."

Remus smiled again. "He did, and that friend is me."

"But you were sick Friday night."

"I was, in a sense," Remus replied, the smile vanishing into a serious look. "Lily, please don't think of me any differently after I tell you."

"After you tell me what?"

"I'm a werewolf." The words seemed painful for him to say, and he paused after, maybe for dramatic effect, maybe to let them sink in. Lily had covered her mouth with her hands. Remus was happy to see that her face did not portray fear or loathing, but the shock and pity was nearly as bad.

"Remus, I'm so sorry." She wanted to be in disbelief, but even through the shock, all the clues suddenly made sense to her. She couldn't believe that she hadn't figured out he was always sick at full moon.

"I don't want your pity," he told her. "Just let me finish explaining. James and Sirius decided to become animagi because of me. Once they figured out why I was mysteriously sick every month, they couldn't stand the thought of me having to spend those full moon nights alone. And since werewolves are only dangerous to people, they decided that turning into animals was the only way. Believe me when I tell you that I tried to talk them out of it, at first. But I'm weak Lily. The thought of not having to be alone was too much of a temptation, and I soon found myself helping them figure out how to do it. They finally managed it, Peter too, in fifth year. Every full moon they sneak out of the castle to come stay with me. James couldn't tell you why he was an animagus because he didn't want to reveal my secret. He and Sirius can be very protective of me sometimes, and the last thing they want is for the school to know that I turn into a monster once a month."

Lily was unaware that her mouth was hanging open slightly as her brain processed the information. The lengths James had gone to in order to be there for his friend amazed her. There really was so much more to him than she knew. And she had broken up with him because of his loyalty to his best friend. "What did I do?" she moaned. "Remus, will he forgive me and take me back?"

"In a heartbeat," Remus replied, the smile returning to his face.

"And you, you decided to risk it and reveal your secret to me just so James could patch things up with me?"

"You have no idea how much James likes you," he replied, still smiling. "He's done so much for me. I'll never be able to properly repay him. At least I can help him be happy with you. Plus, this will avoid any further arguments about his whereabouts at certain times of the month."

"I don't care what the rest of the world says about werewolves, you're a great man, Remus!" She threw her arms around him in a friendly hug before pulling away. "Now, I'm going to go find James."

* * *

James lounged on the sofa in front of the Gryffindor common room fire, enjoying his free period. Lily slipped onto the cushion next to him. "I just had a talk with Remus," she told him.

James eyes flicked toward her, but his face remained unchanged.

"And I owe you a really big apology. It wasn't fair of me to give you that ultimatum. And despite that fact that it's still illegal, I have a new sense of respect for you. Not many people would go to such lengths for a friend. Will you forgive me?"

"Of course," he replied instantly, sliding over on the sofa to be closer to her. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him, so her head was leaning on his shoulder. "I would have told you, eventually," he whispered.

"Eventually?" she giggled.

"Yeah, like on my death bed," he joked, earning him a playful smack on the arm.

"I do understand why you couldn't tell me, though," she told him.

"You know you can't tell anyone, right? I mean, it's not that I don't trust you…"

"I won't tell anyone," she agreed. She felt his body relax a bit more, as he rested his chin on the top of her head. She could smell that lovely soapy, aftershavy, cologny smell again. "Am I the only person outside your group who knows?"

"No one else knows about three illegal animagi running loose at Hogwarts. Though some of the teachers know about Remus, oh, and Snape too, he knows about Remus."

"Severus? I can't believe you would tell him!"

"I didn't tell him," James responded gruffly. "Snape noticed Remus' absences, and had started sticking his large nose into matters that didn't concern him. Sirius thought it would be funny to tell Snape how to find out why Remus was so often ill."

"He didn't?"

"That's Sirius, never thinking of the consequences of his actions, rash. He was far too cheerful the day of that full moon. It took me forever to get him to confess what he had done, almost too long. I reached Snape right before he found Remus, but not before he had seen enough to figure out the truth."

"Remus would have killed him! How could Sirius treat that as a joke?"

"As I said, Sirius never thought of the consequences. Dumbledore forbid Snape from telling anyone what he saw, but it certainly hasn't endeared him any more to us."

"But you saved his life!"

"He thinks it was planned and I was in on it the whole time. He enjoys telling me that I must have lost my nerve and that I don't have the composition required to kill someone, even if he is my enemy."

"But you did save him," Lily repeated, feeling her heart swell with pride. "You hate Severus, but yet you saved him."

"I don't wish him dead, good and hexed maybe, but not dead. Though, I'd be lying if I played myself up as the hero. I was thinking more about Remus, Sirius, and myself. If Remus had killed Snape, even though he wasn't in his right mind, Dumbledore wouldn't have been able to allow him to stay at Hogwarts. And the consequences for Sirius wouldn't have been much better. He got two months worth of detention just for the attempt. He would have been expelled if it had panned out, and I probably would have been implemented in the crime as well."

"So, is that the last of the secrets?"

James chuckled. "Those are the two big ones. I usually don't open relationships with those two. I try to start smaller, give out little secrets, like the fact that I like to smell flowers."

"I'm sure those little secrets endeared you with the ladies," Lily laughed, "though I do have one last question. The antlers, they aren't overcompensation for something, are they?"

James' mouth dropped open in wordless shock at the question while Lily giggled. Finally, overcoming his surprise, he replied, "I can't believe sweet, innocent, Lily Evans just asked that."

She laughed outright at that.

"But if you want to play this game," James continued slyly, "just be warned that you've stepped into the master's territory." He continued on in complete seriousness, "fair is only fair, Lily, you got to see my rack, now I get to see yours."

Lily stopped laughing, and in a playful huff, gave James another smack on the arm. "Only if you answer my question first," she teased.

"Ok," he again replied seriously, reaching for the fly on his pants.

"Eeekk! No!" Lily screeched, covering her eyes. "I didn't think you actually would."

James laughed. "Then don't ask questions you don't want answers to. Remember, you are talking to the guy who helped Sirius invent strip Quidditch. I'm not shy."

"So I've noticed."


	8. March Madness

Chapter 8

March Madness

Mid March found the students of Hogwarts stuck in the rut of perpetual schoolwork and praying for the Easter holiday that remained a fortnight away. A sudden spurt of warmer weather did nothing to improve the mood of fifth and seventh year students, who felt the imposing weight of their upcoming exams more than ever. In fact, Lily wished the weather would have stayed cold. Sure, the above freezing days had ended the threat of impromptu snowball fights on the way to and from Herbology lessons, but the snow had been replaced by a melted, muddy, treacherous mess. Lily would rather have taken her chances with the clean, powdery snow.

She was mud free at the current moment, staring out over the brown, wet grounds absentmindedly. She and Anne had already finished their in class exercise in practicing partial human transfiguration (turning each other's hair into feathers and then back again.) McGonagall left the majority of the class to their own devices as she prowled the room, sorting out those students who had not been successfully de-feathered by their partners. This included one unfortunate Remus Lupin, who although he had molted, had remained gloriously bald. Professor McGonagall seemed to be having a hard time in reversing this unexpected side effect. Poor Remus resigned himself to ignoring the taunts of the Slytherins and staring daggers at his partner, Peter, while James and Sirius howled with mirth at the next table.

While the rest of the class chatted about their plans for the weekend, Lily allowed her usually attentive mind to wander. She couldn't help but smile as she thought about her forthcoming date with James that evening. He wouldn't tell her where he was taking her, but she had been promised a romantic Friday night. Anne bet he had bribed the house elves into turning the kitchens into a French bistro. Lily was inclined to think along the same lines, since there really weren't too many romantic date spots available inside Hogwarts. She definitely hoped the date didn't involve a trip to the Astronomy tower, since the nocturnal activities that occurred in and around it were anything but romantic, and she didn't mean star gazing.

A loud crack startled Lily out of her thoughts. Remus' hair had finally been restored, allowing McGonagall to make her way back to her desk amid the crinkle of parchment being shoved hurriedly into bags in the usual Friday rush to leave.

"I know you are all anxious to start your weekend, but I have an announcement before you are dismissed."

"Please don't let it be another two yard long essay," Anne mumbled quietly.

"As many of you may already know, every year the Hogwarts staff sponsor a formal ball for the seventh year students. I am pleased to announce that this year's ball will be held on the night of April 30th."

A loud groan arose from many of the boys in the class, while many of the girls started talking excitedly with each other.

"You know what this means?" Anne spouted happily, a huge grin on her face. "We get to go shopping for new dress robes!"

Lily didn't have time to respond. McGonagall cleared her throat loudly before continuing.

"This ball is meant to serve as a last hurrah of sorts for all the seventh years. It will be one of the last opportunities you will have to come together as a year, without the competition of house affiliations, before you all leave Hogwarts and begin your adult lives. Therefore, attendance is mandatory," another groan rose from the boys. "Attendance will also be restricted to seventh years only, with the exception of younger students permitted as the dates of older students. It is not mandatory for you to have an escort, but encouraged since there will be a live band and the opportunity to dance. I expect to see you all there. Class is dismissed."

A thunderous scraping of chairs and friendly chatter filled the room as the students queued inside the narrow doorway, pushing to get out into the hallway. Lily laughed as Anne immediately launched back into a discussion of a shopping trip, and in depth details of the dress robes she wanted to get. The prospect of a seventh year dance was exciting, especially since Lily knew she already had a date. Finding someone to attend balls with had always been more trouble that it was worth, and having James around meant the only thing Lily had to worry about was what she would wear.

"Hey, Thatcher!" rang out in the corridor.

Anne turned away to see who had shouted her surname and immediately wished she hadn't.

Apparently, Lily wasn't the only one thinking about the upcoming ball. "How would you like to attend the ball with a smart, funny, handsome guy?" Sirius Black shouted from his position several people behind Lily and Anne.

"I'd love to," Anne yelled back sarcastically. "Do you know anyone who is smart, funny, and handsome?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, I do," he shouted back, undaunted by her jab. "How about…me!"

"Not on your life, Black."

Sirius didn't look like the rejection bothered him. He shrugged and called after the two girls, "your loss then," before returning to heckling Peter about his feathery failure in class.

Anne shook her head, rolled her eyes, and sighed while Lily laughed. "The sad thing is, that line is going to work on some love struck fifth year," Anne mused.

* * *

Lily waited anxiously in the common room for James, nervously trying to get her stomach to stop grumbling. Supper was included in their date, so she had gone down to dinner with Anne, but had only sipped some pumpkin juice and nibbled a bit of sourdough bread to hold her over. However, James was apparently running late, and Lily found herself waiting not very patiently by the fire. She flattened the skirt she was wearing, having changed out of her uniform and robes and into something a bit more date appropriate: a skirt, sleeveless blouse, and fitted cardigan sweater that kept her modest but still reminded James that she was a girl. Well, it would remind him that she was a girl, if he ever showed up.

James did finally appear, emerging from the boys' dormitory looking the part of the date as well. Like Lily, he had changed out of his robes, and was dressed instead in khakis and a blue dress shirt. It even looked like he had attempted to control his unruly hair, though with not very much success.

"Sorry," he whispered as he gave her a light kiss, "Quidditch practice ran late."

"That's alright," Lily replied, forgiving him instantly. "Will you tell me where we are going?"

"No," James laughed back, as Lily looked indignantly at him. "It's a surprise."

The corridor James lead Lily down was definitely no where near the kitchens, leaving Lily even more mystified as to where their mysterious date would take place. They seemed to be on the sixth or seventh floor, far from any of the popular date spots that Lily had knowledge of. James finally stopped in the middle of an empty corridor, containing only one painting of an exasperated looking wizard and three very unhappy looking trolls in tutus.

James flashed a toothy grin at Lily. "Now bear with me for a while. I need you to think of whatever you are hungriest for right now," he instructed.

"Okay," she replied hesitantly. What was she hungry for? Almost anything seemed appealing in her current state of hunger. Roast beef sounded nice, with gravy, and potatoes, and maybe a small salad, or fresh baked bread, and butterbeer, with tea and scones afterward. But why was this important? He wasn't going to tell her he was a legilmens was he? That would just be too much.

"Keep thinking whatever you're thinking," he said cheerfully, grabbing her hand and starting to lead her down the corridor again. He seemed to be concentrating hard on something too. Maybe if you walked down this hallway while hungry, and thinking of what you wanted to eat, it magically appeared. However, they had only paced a few yards when James turned her around and started marching her back.

"Keep thinking of food," he whispered.

Lily gave him a slightly apprehensive look, but kept quiet. She ran the list of food she was hungry for through her mind, though confused guesses at what was going on kept popping up as well, especially after James turned around a second time. Lily began to suspect she was a butt of a joke, and that Sirius had bet James on how long he could keep her pacing before she stopped and demanded to know what was going on. However, the third time they turned around a door had appeared where there had previously been none.

She wasn't able to bite down a, "where did that come from?"

"I'll explain once we're inside," James replied as he reached for the handle. With a guiding hand on the small of her back, he led Lily inside, quietly closing the door behind them.

Lily gasped at the room around her. Had she not known better, she would have sworn she had stepped into a quaint little restaurant in London. The walls were painted a light maroon, with a large brick fireplace crackling merrily in the middle of the opposite wall. Candles glowed from elaborate wall sconces, providing romantic lighting that mingled with the soft classical music playing from an unidentifiable source. A single table, set for two, stood in the middle of the room. It was bedecked with all the food Lily had been hungry for, as well as two more glowing candles.

"What is this place?" Lily demanded again, as James pulled her chair out for her before seating himself.

"We found it, Sirius and I, our third year," James responded proudly. Lily sensed there was a story behind their discovery that probably involved the breaking of at least ten school rules. "Mind you, it did take us a year to figure out the finer points of how it worked. At first we thought it was just a hidden library."

"A library?" She didn't see any books.

"It changes," James replied with a grin. "You have to walk past that ridiculous portrait three times, thinking of whatever you need, and it will appear inside."

"So you thought of the need to take me somewhere on a date," Lily replied as she served herself some of the roast beef and potatoes.

"And you thought of dinner," he returned with a smirk. "Good choice, by the way."

Lily laughed as they continued eating. "But why did you and Sirius need a library, when there is a perfectly good one downstairs?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"We were researching how to turn into animagi, and let's just say Madam Pince wasn't exactly inviting us into the restricted section to find what we needed."

"So you found an accessible restricted section up here," she laughed.

James nodded through a mouthful of food.

* * *

Lily supposed she must have just overlooked the sofa sitting in front of the fire in James' magical secret room. She had only noticed it once they had finished dinner, after thinking to herself how nice it would be to lay in front of the fire. So now she snuggled close to James, his arms wrapped around her from behind as they lay spooned against each other. She was amazed by how her body seemed to fit with his. Her head rested against his chest, using the crook of his right arm as a pillow. She could hear his even breathing and steady heartbeat over the crackle of the fire as they basked in loving silence. She felt happier and more content than she had in long while.

"This is nice," she mumbled quietly, not wishing to wreck the mood.

"It's even nicer because it's you I'm holding," he responded, pulling her even closer. She felt him move his head, and heard his gentle breathing by her ear as he tipped his head to kiss her temple. She felt like she was in a very pleasant dream.

She rolled slightly so she could kiss his lips briefly. James, however, wasn't satisfied with briefly, and soon Lily found herself not caring if it was a dream or not. In fact, her mind seemed incapable to think of little else other than the way sparks seemed to shoot down her spine, making her whole body tingle when James kissed her this way.

They left the magical room grudgingly. James had tried to convince her to sleep there, in his arms. As tempting as that invitation had been, Lily had suggested it may be better for their reputations if they slept in their own beds. If they didn't return to the dormitories, it would surely be noted by their friends, who could put two and two together pretty quickly. She would rather avoid that heckling session, and after a while, James had agreed. They tip-toed, hand in hand, back through the castle, aware of just how many hours had passed since curfew. It didn't matter if they were Head Girl and Boy, they weren't on duty and would get detention if found out of bed just as quickly as any other student. Perhaps even faster, with James' track record.

They made it safely back to the empty common room. The fire had died to just embers, casting the room in eerie shadows. James walked her to the foot of the girls' staircase where they said goodnight.

"Thank you for a wonderful night, James," Lily whispered in his ear as they pulled away from each other, hands still intertwined. She retreated up the stairs, letting go of his fingers only when she absolutely had to.

* * *

James walked jauntily into the Gryffindor common room. Usually Mondays were depressing for a Marauder, well except maybe for Remus. James, however, could care less if it was Monday. He was a man on top of the world. He still hadn't come down from the euphoric high caused by his date with Lily on Friday night. He even didn't care that Sirius had caught him humming a sappy Muggle love song that morning. He was quite sure that he was the luckiest man alive, and would remain so as long as Lily Evans continued to be his girlfriend. Not only was she finally dating him, but she didn't care that his best friend was a werewolf and that he was an illegal animagus. She had even surprised him by proving she had a sense of humor. What other girl would let him tease her about how her rack compared to his. He was definitely the luckiest man in the world, and his four-leaf clover was only yards away, doing her homework.

Grinning, he slipped into the chair next to her. "Having fun doing potions?" he teased.

When she turned her head to look at him he saw that she had tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked, feeling as though he had been drop kicked off cloud nine and back to solid ground.

She shook her head, hurriedly whipping away the tears. "It's nothing…"

"It's something," he pushed.

"It's just," she nodded toward the notice board where a new notice was hanging. "McGonagall posted the sign up sheet for those staying over Easter Break, and, for the first time ever, I had to sign it. Where else do I have to go?"

"It's okay," he soothed as she broke into a new set of tears. "I'm going to be staying too. I know how you feel, Lily. The first holiday without them, I felt awful over Christmas. But Sirius was there for me, and I'm here for you. And there's always Anne, she'd do anything for you."

"Except throw me off the Astronomy tower," Lily mumbled into his chest.

"What?"

"Never mind," she choked, giving him a half-hearted smile through the tears. "It's not just that it will be the first Easter without them, it's that I almost forgot. I've been so happy with you that I almost forgot that I'd lost them."

"You forgot to be miserable about it, you mean."

She nodded.

"Lily, I know I never met them, but would they really have wanted you to be miserable? You can still miss them while letting yourself be happy. You're always going to miss them, but you don't want to be miserable for the rest of your life."

"Do you still miss your parents?"

"Of course, everyday! And I'll really miss them over Easter, and when we graduate, and during every other major event in my life. But they made it exceptionally clear before they passed away that I wasn't to mope around because of them. In fact, Mum threatened to come back and haunt me if I did and she'd make Peeves look like a kitten."

Lily smiled a little. "I know it sounds silly, since I'm eighteen years old, but I'm going to miss the Easter basket Mum always made for me and Petunia. It was just a straw basket filled with Easter grass and candy, but she always got us these big peanut butter eggs, covered in chocolate. And I don't know where she got them, but she'd get our names written on them in icing. That way, when we were little, Petunia and I couldn't argue over whose was whose, and it just sort of became tradition."

James pulled Lily into a tight hug again, an idea forming in his mind.


	9. Easter Baskets and Whoopee Cushions

Chapter 9

Easter Baskets and Whoopee Cushions

Lily woke on Easter morning to find, for the first time in her life, no Easter basket at the foot of her bed. Her dormitory was empty. All the other girls had gone home for the holiday. Anne would have stayed if Lily let her, but the red head had forced her blonde friend to go home. Lily had learned the hard way that life was too short. She wished she had spent more time with her family when she had the chance. She wasn't going to let Anne miss out on her family, she'd get to spend the last three months of school with Lily anyway.

Suddenly two loud bangs on her door, as if someone had kicked it, startled her out of her thoughts. She didn't bother pulling a dressing gown over her nightdress, expecting to find one of the few Gryffindor girls who had stayed over break. Instead, her hand flew to her mouth in shock as a very familiar set of eyes on a very unfamiliar body greeted her. James, in his animagus form, stood outside her dormitory door, an Easter basket hanging from his antlers.

Getting over her shock, Lily stepped aside to allow the stag to step into the room as she mumbled, "It's reassuring to know that those stairs only guard against animagi in their human form."

By the time she closed the door again and turned around, James was back to his bipedal self. "It's Padfoot you really need to worry about," he told her with a grin, holding out the Easter basket to her.

"What's this?" she inquired, taking the gift. Peering into the basket, she pushed aside the brightly colored Easter grass and saw a large, square Honeydukes box.

"I knew you were going to miss your tradition," he explained as she opened the box. Inside was a large peanut butter egg, dipped in chocolate, with 'To Lily, Love James' written on it in color changing icing.

"Oh James, you're wonderful," she cried, throwing her arms around him. She felt both the sharp pain of loosing her parents and the deep love for James' thoughtfulness. "I feel bad that I didn't get you anything."

"Share some of that egg with me and don't worry about it."

"Oh, I see how it is," Lily teased, "you mooch!"

James grinned again before leaning down and giving her a good morning kiss. "Breakfast?"

"In my nightdress?"

"Why not? I like it," he replied lustfully.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Potter, it's Easter!" She grabbed some clothes, carefully hiding her knickers from James' prying eyes, and dashed into the adjoining bathroom. She emerged five minutes later fully dressed and ready for breakfast, only to find James lounging lazily on her bed.

She walked over and grabbed his hand, in order to lead him down to breakfast. However, James had other plans, and promptly pulled Lily onto the bed and on top of him. She shrieked in surprise as he pulled her head down for another kiss. When she finally rolled off him, she was flushed and they were both breathing heavy. No wonder those stairs were charmed to keep boys out of the girls' dormitories. "Come on, James. You are the one who asked for breakfast," she goaded, pulling him toward the door.

James followed obediently, knowing he had gotten as far as she would let him. It wasn't worth the risk to press his luck. As she stepped out onto the spiral staircase, he paused just inside the threshold. "I have to transform to go down," he told her.

"And ruin my ride, I don't think so," Lily responded, sitting down on the step. She pulled on his arm with more force than he expected and he stepped out onto the stairs in order to keep his balance. "You might want to sit down," Lily giggled.

James, however, barely had time to think about her words before the steps disappeared and a stone slide took their place. Lily laughed as James tried to keep his footing. His athletic side eventually kicked in, enabling him to remain in a semi-standing position as he slid down the spiral slide. He stumbled though, at the bottom, and ended up on his backside on the common room floor. Lily, having rode down on her rear, popped up gracefully onto her feet. Remus gave them a curious look over the top of his book.

James got to his feet, looking exhilarated. "Step surfing!" he exclaimed to Remus. "Lily, you have got to let Sirius and I do that again tonight!"

"I am going to pretend, as a Prefect, that I didn't see or hear that," Remus responded.

"Hello Remus," Lily said pleasantly, ignoring James' request. "I didn't know you were staying over break."

"Full moon is tomorrow," he responded. "And spending it with Padfoot and Prongs is by far preferable to the way I would spend it at home." Although his usual cordial self, Lily could tell he was very tired.

"Speaking of the scoundrel, where is Padfoot?" James inquired.

"The bloke said he was too hungry to wait for you to…" Remus flushed slightly. "Well, you can imagine what he said about you going up to Lily's dormitory, unchaperoned."

Lily felt herself blush deeply, despite the fact she and James had done nothing more than snog innocently. Well, as innocently as one could snog. She noticed, however, that James looked more smug than embarrassed: typical male.

* * *

As they left the Great Hall after breakfast, James pulled Lily aside. He had carried his bag down with him from the common room, but wouldn't tell her what was inside.

"I knew you were going to be melancholy today, so I did some research on what Muggle Easter is all about," he told her, sounding very proud of himself. Lily held back a groan. James was fairly smart, but he wasn't the brightest when it came to things pertaining to Muggles.

"So I asked some of the Muggle born and half-blood girls in Gryffindor what they thought of around Easter. And the number one answer was chocolate, and well, that was already taken care of with the egg and Easter basket this morning. But the second thing most commonly mentioned was baby chickens and rabbits."

This time Lily actually did groan.

James, however, either didn't hear her or ignored it, as he proceeded to pull two cloaks out of his bag. "And, well, I wasn't sure where to find baby chickens, but I have it on good word that Professor Kettleburn has just had a bunch of Cockatrice eggs hatch. He's letting Hagrid keep them in his hut over break."

"James, Cockatrices have been known to kill people."

"Not when they're babies. I talked to Hagrid already, and he said they were harmless."

Lily snorted. Hagrid's idea of harmless was a bit different than her own. However, she didn't have the heart to tell James she hadn't played with bunnies and chicks since she was eight, so she accepted a cloak and followed him out onto the grounds.

As they passed the greenhouses they saw they weren't the only ones out for a bit of fun. Professor Sprout had the remaining young Hufflepuff students out and in the midst of a magical egg hunt. Lily couldn't help but laugh as she saw a group of second years attempting to summon one egg out of the branches of an oak tree.

"A levitation charm might work better," she whispered softly to one girl as she and James passed. The girl looked stricken at being addressed by the Head Girl, but eventually pulled herself together enough to utter the charm she had learned the year before. The egg softly lifted away from the branch and floated down to her hands.

"Thanks," the girl mumbled shyly, stuffing the new egg into her cloak pocket before her and her friends scurried off to find more hidden eggs.

"Easter egg hunts were the third most often mentioned thing," James told Lily. "And I couldn't help but think how unsportsmanlike it was to hunt a helpless egg, but now I see that isn't what they meant."

Lily laughed, as the mental image of a man dressed in camouflage with a large gun sneaking up behind a brightly colored egg popped into her head. "The church we went to always held an Easter egg hunt after service for all the children. I remember helping Mum dye some of the eggs that would be used. It was never a fair competition, though. All the girls were in their new Easter dresses, with white tights and patent leather shoes, and heaven help us if we got one grass stain on us. The boys on the other hand, could run around as much as they wanted. I remember one year, I was just stooping down to pick up an egg, since 'ladies don't bend over, they stoop,'" she imitated her mother's voice. "And before I could grab the egg, some little upstart boy grabbed it first. I remember I got so mad that I grabbed his hand, determined to get that egg back. I didn't mean to, but when I pulled my hand away he had a bunch of little nasty boils, and he ran off crying."

"That doesn't surprise me at all, Lily," James chuckled. "You always seemed like that girl who made the boys cry."

"Hey!" Lily shoved him playfully. "I'll make you cry if you aren't careful."

They arrived at Hagrid's hut, with James still dry eyed. After knocking, the gentle half giant opened the door, grinning down at both of them.

"Yeh're just in time," he informed them merrily. "I've just finished feedin' em."

"Wonderful," Lily replied, hoping she had hidden the sarcasm well enough. She was still unsure about what to expect from Cockatrice chicks. However, even she had to agree that the tiny creatures were almost cute. Their rooster genetics made their feathery parts soft, yellow, and very fluffy. Though it was the reptilian parts Lily worried about, and she wasn't keen to have one of the critters mistake her fingers for flobberworms. After almost being bitten three times, Lily finally managed to convince James that her Easter tradition had been fulfilled and that they could go back to the castle anytime. After finishing their tea, and once more turning down Hagrid's offer to take some rock cakes back with them, they wished Hagrid a happy Easter and started the walk back up to the school.

* * *

After the Easter dinner, in which Lily was quite sure the house elves had outdone themselves, she, James, Remus, and Sirius all relaxed in front of the common room fire. Peter, like Anne, had gone home for the holiday, though only because his overbearing mother had demanded it.

Lily was attempting to read a Muggle book about a very short man, a ring that turned the wearer invisible, and the Muggle misconception of what it meant to be a wizard. However, between the rambling of the author into family lineage charts, and her concern for Remus' upcoming transformation, the novel just couldn't keep Lily's attention. The fact that James and Sirius kept bursting into uncontrollable laughter two chairs away didn't help either.

"Are you going to let anyone in on the joke?" she asked them irritably, after another disturbing round of hiccup inducing laughter.

"You… don't…" James held his sides, and it seemed to be painful to try and talk.

"Are you crying!" Lily exclaimed.

He nodded, as he and Sirius exchanged glances and fell to the floor in another bout of hysterical giggling.

Lily looked over to Remus for support. "How can you read through the racket they are making? And don't you want to know what is so bloody funny?"

Remus slowly pulled his book away from his face. "I've developed selective hearing where those two are concerned," he responded tiredly. Lily couldn't believe how ill he looked. "And I'm willing to bet my Prefect badge that what is so funny are their plans for Thursday."

Lily had to stop and think what Thursday was, before the answer hit her like a speeding Bludger. "April Fool's Day," she breathed, and Remus nodded before allowing himself to become absorbed in his book again. She chided herself for not figuring it out sooner. The rest of the students would return on Wednesday, just in time for James and Sirius to try and break their all time 'number of detentions earned in one day' record. She really didn't want to know what they were planning. However, James had managed to prank her every year they had been at Hogwarts. It was just one of the many ways he had so endeared her to him in the past. She would make sure that this year, she had a truce.

"James, dear," she said sweetly during a break in the laughter.

"Yes, Lily, love," he responded, his face flushed from all the laughing. Sirius still hiccuped next to him.

"I want to discuss Thursday with you."

"Oh, you're not going to tell him he can't prank Snivellus, are you?" Sirius whined.

Lily hadn't even thought about what they would do to Severus. "Actually," she replied, "I was thinking more about myself, but since you mentioned it, Sirius." James shot Sirius a nasty glare. "James, I just want a promise that I'm not going to have to watch my back around you all day."

"You're no fun," Sirius protested. "We could always charm you to have a sense of humor for the day."

"I have a sense of humor!" Lily returned, giving an angry glare at James, who had unsuccessfully tried to turn his snort of laughter into a sneeze.

"Just because we lose one battle, doesn't mean we loose the war," James told Sirius. He then flashed his usual cheeky smile at Lily, while promising, "I will ensure that you are not pranked by me, Sirius, Peter, or Remus. I can not speak for anyone else, however."

"That will be fine," Lily replied, stretching out her hand to make James seal the agreement. He kissed it rather than shake it, however, causing Sirius to gag.

"And about one Severus Snape…"

"Aw, come on Lily, I've been relatively civil to him almost all year," James whined, sounding even more like a four year old than Sirius.

This time it was Remus who tried to hide a snort of laughter.

"Do you have something to say on the matter?" Lily inquired, hoping that Remus would back her up.

"Well, Lily, it _is_ April Fool's Day. And as long as you and James set down some stipulations, I don't think it could be too harmful to allow him just one small joke on Sniv…I mean, Severus."

Traitor, Lily thought irritably. James didn't seem to be looking at Remus too fondly either.

"Stipulations, Moony? Haven't we rubbed off on you at least a little in the past seven years?"

"More than I would care to admit, Prongs," Remus replied, smiling through his sick appearance. "But, you will loose the war with Lily if you do not concede some things when it comes to your and Sirius' plans for April Fool's Day."

"I'm willing to compromise if you are," Lily told James.

"It depends on what the compromise is, doesn't it Prongs?" Sirius cut in.

James looked rather uncomfortable, stuck between his girlfriend and best friend. "What did you have in mind, Lily?" he finally inquired meekly.

"You're not to humiliate him horribly in front of the entire school, so nothing in the Great Hall. Also, nothing that involves him showing off his knickers, or worse, what's under his knickers."

Sirius shuddered involuntarily at the thought. "Merlin Lily, even James and I wouldn't do that. We don't want to go blind."

James snickered softly, but quickly stopped when Lily shot him one of her signature glances. "Basically, I don't want to find out that either of you did anything to mortify him completely…"

"What if you don't find…" Sirius stopped as her glare turned from James to him.

"Nothing worse than a whoopee cushion, do you both understand me?"

James and Sirius looked at each other, and seemed to be contemplating the proposal. They turned back to Lily and replied simultaneously, "what's a whoopee cushion?"

Remus snorted again. "Never mind," Lily told them, slightly exasperated, "the point is…"

"No, we want to know," James interrupted.

"For once we actually want to learn," Sirius added.

"Then you should have taken Muggle Studies."

"Ah, come on Lily," James begged. "Just tell us what a whoopee cushion is, it sounds kind of fun."

"No, I don't want to give you two any more ideas than your sick brains already think up."

"Fine, we'll just ask Remus," Sirius replied, with the air of a child who's just been told he can't have dessert by mum, and is going to ask dad instead. "Moony, my old friend," he began in a sing-song voice.

"Remus, don't tell them!" Lily pleaded.

Remus gave Lily an apologetic look. "Sorry Lily, but they are spending tomorrow night with me."

Lily huffed as Remus explained the basic function of a whoopee cushion to his two students, who listened with rapt attention. When he was done, Sirius had an evil look on his face.

"We accept your terms, Miss Evans," he told her sternly. "Nothing worse than a whoopee cushion."

She definitely didn't like the expressions on James and Sirius' faces.

* * *

A/N: I hope everyone liked the chapter. I'm sorry if I completely Americanized British Easter, I plead just plain stupidity on the subject. If anyone knows if they do things differently in Great Britian, leave it in a review and I can repost the chapter.


	10. April Fool's Day

Chapter 10

April Fool's Day

Lily woke on Thursday morning with the usual end-of-week laziness. She regretfully denied her body its will to fall back to sleep, and stretched luxuriously instead. She'd be able to sleep in on Saturday, only forty-eight more hours, she told herself. It didn't help her present tiredness, but at least it gave her something to work toward. She reached to pull back the curtains around her bed, which afforded her what little privacy one could get while living in a room with five other girls. However, the curtains remained stubbornly stuck shut. Still blinking sleep out of her eyes, Lily pulled harder on the old curtains. They still didn't budge. From somewhere beyond her bed, she heard a stifled giggle.

"Anne, what did you do to my bed!"

The giggle turned into laughter. "Happy April Fool's Day, Lily!"

"Oh it will be, when I return the favor. Now tell me how to get out of here."

"You want to fight dark wizards after Hogwarts, and you can't even figure out how to get out of bed! Good luck Lily!"

Lily grabbed her wand, which she had kept under her pillow ever since she had learned that James, Sirius, and Peter could get into her dorm as animals. She wouldn't be caught off guard if they decided to play a moronic game of truth or dare. "Finite Incantatem," she said firmly, pointing the willow wand at the curtain rod. With a small pop, the curtains sprung apart, revealing the dormitory. Anne sat on the bed opposite, grinning madly. Lily threw a pillow at her roughly before heading for the bathroom.

* * *

Lily entered the common room the first, of the soon to be many, casualties of the ridiculous day. James met her almost immediately, kissing her more passionately than usual.

"Have you been causing havoc already?" she teased.

"Never, my love," he returned with a sly smile.

"Well, if you haven't been reeking mayhem, then you won't mind me asking what you plan on doing to Severus today?" It was only the millionth time she had asked him in the past week.

The sly smile on James' face only widened. "You will have to wait till Potions to find out, just like everyone else."

"Potions! You aren't going to do it in front of Slughorn, are you? You really do want to spend the rest of the year in detention, don't you?"

"Can I help it if I love the smell of pickled pig bladders simmering slowly in the detention cauldron?" Lily made a face. "Don't worry about me, Lily. I've had seven years of experience in harassing Snivellus, and most of the time I didn't get caught. I have it planned so that Slughorn can't pin it on me, no matter how much he suspects. Though," James drew out the word, before kissing Lily again, "I could use your help with one tiny detail."

"You're not turning me into a conspirator."

"No one would even know. All we need you to do is perform one simple little charm."

"If it is so simple, why don't you do it yourself?" Lily laughed.

"Ok, so perhaps it isn't so simple. Sirius and I haven't been able to get it right, and Remus is still weak, so we don't want to bother him with it. And you're really, really, good at charms Lily. You know you are. You can use this as an instance to show off. Demonstrate your superior skills…"

"You can stop the flattery," Lily interrupted. "Show me what you want me to do, and then I _might_ do it for you."

"You're the best!" James replied, giving her another quick kiss. Lily simply rolled her eyes as he led her over to where Sirius poured over an advanced charms book and an ordinary whoopee cushion.

"Dare I ask what you are trying to do?" she inquired again.

"You don't need to worry about the main hex," Sirius replied mischievously, "we just need you to combine these two charms with it." He pushed the book over to her, pointing at the two charms he and James had been trying to cast.

Lily glanced at the charms and instantly understood how James thought he could get away with the joke without getting caught She also understood why neither James nor Sirius had been able to cast the spells themselves. Proximity and transfer charms were very complex and tricky. The first charm had to be combined with the existing hex on the Muggle whoopee cushion. If done correctly however, the proximity charm would cause the hex to become active only when James moved more than six meters away. The transfer charm would be even trickier, since it had to be entwined with the other two spells, in order to effectively move those spells from the whoopee cushion onto another object.

It took Lily almost twenty minutes to perfect the wand movements and words required in order to perform both spells to her satisfaction. But in the end, she was confident both would work, and James and Sirius looked as though it were Christmas again. However, the charms had taken so long that breakfast was over, and they risked arriving late to Potions. "You two owe me," Lily lectured playfully, "breakfast in bed, at least, since you made me miss my toast and eggs."

When they reached the Potions classroom, Lily found Anne waiting with a peace offering. "I noticed you weren't at breakfast, so I stole some toast. Can I ask what kept you from your usual morning meal?"

Lily, knowing full well what Anne meant to imply, replied equally suggestively, "I was doing a _favor_ for James…and Sirius."

Anne looked scandalized for about half a second before she burst out laughing. "Sorry Lily, but adding Black made that completely unbelievable." Sirius glared at her from his position next to James.

Lily munched on her pilfered breakfast as she and Anne walked toward their usual table near the front of the Potions classroom. She watched James out of the corner of her eye as she set up her cauldron and basic ingredients. He walked nonchalantly past the stool Snape usually sat on, depositing the spell ridden whoopee cushion on top of the wooden stool. Lily held her breath slightly, to see if her charms had really worked. For a few seconds, the rubber bladder sat unchanged, still conspicuously full of air, but soon it slowly deflated soundlessly, indicating that the proximity charm and hex had been transferred to the seat.

Meanwhile, James and Sirius set up their own cauldrons and ingredients two tables away from Snape's, but still easily within the six meter limit. They attempted to look innocent as Severus entered, with his usual greasy hair and scowl. He picked up the rather obvious, deflated whoopee cushion off his chair with a severe look of disdain on his face. Holding the whoopee cushion in two fingers, and away from him, as though it would give him a disease, he flung it at James and Sirius.

"I sincerely hope you didn't expect to embarrass me with this filthy Muggle joke," he spat. "And clearly, even Muggles have more intelligence than you two. One must fill it with air in order to produce the desired effect."

"How foolish of us, eh Padfoot?" James whispered as he glared back at Severus Snape. Then, raising his voice enough for most of the class to hear, he asked "why do you assume we'd try to embarrass you with some Muggle _thing_, Snivellus? There are far more useful spells to torture Slytherins like you. Though, I am impressed by your knowledge of Muggle joke items, since you try to never associate with Muggles or Muggleborns, blood purity and all that." James then proceeded to banish the whoopee cushion into the far corner of the room with mock disgust.

Snape flushed slightly as James pointed out that, for a pureblood Slytherin who wouldn't go within fifty yards of a Muggle Studies class, he knew an awful lot about Muggle artifacts. However, any retort had to wait, as Slughorn entered the room. Snape took his seat, and nothing happened. Lily was relieved to see that the proximity charm still held.

Professor Slughorn looked directly at Sirius and James as he said, "I know that today, traditionally, is a day for pranks and jokes. All fine and well when you are on your own time, but while you are in my classroom, there will be no funny business and it would be ill-advised to attempt any."

Although fairly short and balding, Slughorn could demand respect from a class. Lily had to admit that James was brave, foolish too, but still brave for attempting his trick under Slughorn's nose. James and Sirius seemed unfazed by the Potions Master's speech, since James continued to glare daggers at Snape, who returned the nasty looks just as strongly. Finally, however, Snape was forced to turn away to start his own potion, since he insisted on working alone. Sirius had already begun his and James' concoction, allowing James to obtain the satisfied look of someone who has just won a tiny, yet satisfying victory.

Throughout the next two hours, James was careful not to move too far away from his and Sirius' table. Professor Slughorn seemed to pace that end of the room far more often than Lily's side, probably owing to the volatile nature of placing Sirius, James, and Severus in the same room for more than five minutes. Finally, Slughorn asked everyone to cork a vial of what _should_ be a strong sleeping potion, bring it up to the front desk, and then clean up their work spaces. Lily tried to keep her eyes on her own cauldron as she cleaned. However, they kept drifting unconsciously toward James, as she wondered when he would finally make his move.

It didn't take long. As Sirius took his and James' vial of sleeping potion to the front of the room, James intentionally stuck a leg out to trip Snape, who was skulking up to the desk with his own potion. Snape stumbled, but failed to drop the potion, undoubtedly as James had hoped. However, the main objective was to gain Slughorn's attention, which it did faster than a rogue bludger.

"Mr. Potter!" Slughorn ambled over to where James was sitting smugly.

"Sorry sir," he replied unconvincingly, "I was stretching."

"Well you can stretch your legs as you carry your unused ingredients back to the store cupboard, and then while wiping down all the tables after class, without magic."

"Yes sir," James replied, scooping up his and Sirius' unused ingredients and making a beeline for the storeroom. Lily knew that as soon as he entered the small side room, he would be far enough away for the proximity charm to activate, as intended.

Slughorn still stood between James and Snape's tables, when Sirius and Snape returned from the front of the room. The entire room was in constant motion, as students corked vials of potion, rinsed out cauldrons, put away unused ingredients, and packed textbooks back into bags. Lily grudgingly gave James credit for his foresight. With so many students up and about, anyone could have the opportunity to hex a stool while James was conveniently otherwise engaged in the ingredient cupboard.

When Snape sat down, the sound of magnified flatulence echoed through the room. Juvenile, but effective, it caused small bouts of giggles and snickers to break out. Snape hopped off the stool as if it had bitten him, pointing his wand aggressively at Sirius. The giggles and snickers changed to groans as Lily discovered just what James and Sirius had added to the whoopee cushion. A foul smelling stench crept throughout the room, making people gag and cover their mouths.

James chose that moment to exit the store cupboard with the elegant inquiry, "Ewww, Merlin, what died in here?"

Snape's head and wand instantly pivoted from Sirius to James. "I know you charmed my chair, Potter."

James put his hands up in what he hoped was an innocent manner. "I've been putting away ingredients. Professor Slughorn, did you see me anywhere near Mr. Snape's chair?"

Slughorn gave James a suspicious look, but finally agreed. "No, Mr. Potter, I don't see how you could have hexed Mr. Snape's chair. Now, if you will please lower your wand, Mr. Snap." Slughorn coughed, no doubt due to the nasty odor still filling the room. "Class dismissed, except for Potter, who gets to clean the tables."

As Lily left, she saw James point his wand at his nose before beginning to scrub the tables.

* * *

The school day ended quietly, with no other pranks comparing to the one James had pulled on Severus. Lily reclined on one end of a common room sofa, reading an assignment from her Charms textbook, while James stretched out over the rest of the sofa, napping with his head on Lily's lap. Remus studied nearby. Anne lounged in the chair next to him, and although she should be writing a Care of Magical Creatures essay, she kept throwing Remus odd looks. Lily made a mental note to ask about it later, but instantly forgot when she heard barking from outside the portrait hole.

A few seconds later a group of third year girls trooped in, followed by a large and very familiar black dog. Lily instantly stood up, abruptly ending James' nap. She adopted her usual Head Girl pose: hands on hips, McGonagall like expression on her face.

"We found him outside after Herbology class," one of the third year girls explained softly. "We just want to keep him till after dinner, so we can nick some food for him. Please?"

"He might have rabies," Lily told them sternly, "and what about all the cat owners in Gryffindor?"

"We'll watch him, we promise!"

James, who had quickly assessed the situation, placed a gentle hand on Lily's shoulder. "He's just having a bit of fun," he whispered softly in her ear.

The third years stared at Lily expectantly, waiting for the verdict. "Fine," Lily finally recanted, "but you had better make sure he behaves himself."

The girls shrieked with happiness, as Padfoot barked along happily. He obediently followed the girls to a sofa, where he thrilled them with doggie kisses all over their faces. Lily watched with disgust, no longer able to keep her mind on her studies. All across the common room, girls oohed and ahhed over the antics of the dog. Eventually, one of the girls took Padfoot on a walk across the common room, so the other Gryffindors could pet him. Lily shook her head, as she watched an interesting pattern emerge. Padfoot would gladly sit and let the boys pet him, but he reserved doggie kisses only for the girls.

He bounded over to where Lily, James, Anne and Remus sat, wagging a furry tail happily. Anne immediately caved to the canine cuteness, dropping to her knees on the floor in front of him.

"Ahhh, aren't you the cutest little doggie ever," she cooed in a baby voice. Padfoot responded with several licks on her face. Anne just laughed, giving the dog a return kiss on the top of his head. If she only knew.

"Anne, that is disgusting," remarked Lily from the sofa, as Padfoot continued to lick her best friend's face.

The dog turned toward Lily next. "Don't even think about it, you mongrel" she told him sternly as he put his paws on her lap. "I know a very handy neutering charm." Padfoot gave a low growl in response to the threat before putting all four paws back on the ground.

"Been bothering your brother over in Slytherin?" James muttered very quietly, so that only Lily and the dog could hear him. Padfoot barked once, and Lily assumed that was a 'yes' since James burst out laughing.

"Come on doggie," a third year girl called, clapping her hands to get Padfoot's attention. "Let's go upstairs so my room mates can see you, you handsome thing."

Lily groaned as Padfoot happily obeyed and raced up the girl's dormitory steps, barking the whole way.

"I wonder what a stray dog was doing wandering around at Hogwarts?" Anne mused. "It seems awfully far away from any Muggle civilization. Do you think someone in Hogsmeade owns him? Maybe we should put up missing dog signs."

"I don't think you need to worry about it," Remus replied, looking as though he were having a very hard time stifling a laugh.

"Yes, I'm sure he can find his way home," James added, sharing a look with Remus. Lily glared at both of them disapprovingly. She was sure they had both known Sirius had planned this as part of his April Fool's Day itinerary. What better way to get a kiss from every girl in Gryffindor without them knowing?

More barking erupted upstairs, along with some shouting. Half a second later, Padfoot bounded down the stairs, with something bright orange clamped in his jaws. Two seconds after that, Julian, another seventh year girl, came running after him.

"Get back here, you thief," she shouted after the dog. "Anne will kill you if you chew that to pieces."

"What does he have of mine!" Anne shouted, jumping out of her chair.

Padfoot charged around the common room. It took two circuits before Lily realized what he was carrying, and judging from her reaction, Anne had realized too.

"Give me back my bra!" she yelled, chasing after the dog. Undoubtedly, that was the very reaction Padfoot had hoped for. Anne, inevitably, tired out well before the elusive dog. She slumped back down in her chair, breathing heavy and looking flushed. "I just told the whole common room that I have a bright orange bra," she moaned to Lily.

At that moment, Padfoot decided to return the stolen undergarment by flinging it into the air so that it landed on Remus' head.

Anne tried to dissolve into her chair as Remus carefully picked her bra off his head. While clearly trying to look the other direction, he offered it back to Anne with a shy, "I believe this is yours."

"Thank you," Anne squeaked in a mortified whisper as she hastily grabbed the bra and shoved it behind her back.

Padfoot, apparently believing he had caused enough mayhem for one day, took off out the portrait hole. Lily sighed, hoping that had been Sirius' April Fools day finale. Though he had, unknowingly, helped her out in one way. After displaying Anne's underwear to the whole common room, Lily no longer felt like her friend deserved to be gotten back for the curtain trick that morning.


	11. How Quidditch Leads to Contraceptives

Chapter 11

How Quidditch Leads to Contraceptives

Quidditch was usually not on Lily's mind at nine o'clock in the morning on a Saturday. However, on this particular April Saturday, she found herself trying to fathom how much her life had changed since the first Quidditch match in November. She couldn't help but smile into her goblet of orange juice as memories of the slaughter of the Slytherin team resurfaced. Thanks to one well aimed Bludger, Gryffindor had taken out the Slytherin Seeker fairly early in the match. He had reportedly woken up almost five hours after the match had ended. The victory caused all of Gryffindor house to leave for the Christmas break in very high spirits. The smile on Lily's face, however, faded as she contemplated how her life had changed after that. Her grieving and guilty conscience liked to whisper late at night that she had squandered her last month with her parents while home on break. It had been all too soon after returning to school that Professor McGonagall had broken the horrible news.

Lily pushed her scrambled eggs around her plate, no longer hungry. It didn't even seem like her life anymore. It was as if she had switched with someone. Suddenly, she was parent-less, homeless, and surprisingly, not boyfriend-less. What had happened to her old life, the James hating, having parents, one?

"Lily."

What a difference six months could make.

"Lily!"

Lily looked up from her half eaten eggs and bacon. "Huh, what?"

"We're going down to the match now," Anne replied, sounding as if it was obvious. "Been listening much?"

"Sorry, I was…thinking," apologized Lily, looking at her watch. "What's the rush, anyway? The match doesn't start for half an hour."

"If we want to sit with Remus and his friends, then we need to go down with them," Anne responded, pointing to the backs of three cloaked boys who were exiting the Great Hall.

"And why do we want to sit with Remus and his friends?" Lily chortled, giving Anne a meaningful glance.

Anne's face flushed slightly as she quickly mumbled, "I, well, I thought _you_ wanted to sit with James' friends to watch him play."

Lily smiled at her best friend. "You're so sweet, Anne, always thinking of what_ I_ want."

"I know, I'm such a great friend," Anne shot back. Her brief embarrassment didn't prevent her from walking quicker than normal, so that by the time she and Lily reached the stadium, they were only a few steps behind Remus, Sirius, and Peter.

A steady stream of students filed into the stadium as Lily and Anne took their seats in the Gryffindor section. Anne, Lily immediately noticed, had fixed it so that she sat between Remus and Lily.

Sirius, who perched on the other side of Peter and Remus, rummaged through his bag for something. "I brought refreshments," he finally announced, awkwardly holding out five bottles of butterbeer. "I even remembered Evans and Thatcher," he declared, passing two of the bottles to Anne and Lily, who were pleasantly surprised by his thoughtfulness.

"Always the gentleman, eh, Black?" Lily replied, a frighteningly James-like grin on her face.

"Oh yes," Anne responded softly under her breath, so only Lily could hear. "And it could have nothing to do with the fact he's asked me three more times to go to the dance with him."

Lily couldn't help but laugh as this remark, as she used the sleeve of her cloak to twist of the butterbeer cap. Luckily, Sirius didn't seem to have noticed her sudden outburst, as he and Peter were deep in a discussion of Gryffindor's chances of winning the match. The conversation involved a lot of numbers and statistics for both teams. It escalated quickly into an argument over who would win, with Sirius refusing to see defeat as a possibility for Gryffindor, while Peter worried that Hufflepuff's veteran seeker would bring about Gryffindor's downfall.

Remus ignored both his friends, as he fingered through a worn copy of _The Time Machine_ by H. G. Wells. Lily almost choked on her butterbeer when Anne leaned over Remus' shoulder to see the book better while inquiring, "Whatcha reading, Remus?"

Remus, not expecting Anne to suddenly be so close, jumped in his seat. "It's a Muggle story," he told her, smoothing his cloak awkwardly "about a Muggle who travels through time."

"Wow, I didn't know Muggles knew about time travel. Do they use Time-Turners too?" Anne responded in pure-blooded ignorance.

Both Lily and Remus laughed. "No, they don't know time travel exists," Remus explained kindly. "To them it is a thing of fiction, only a theoretical possibility."

Luckily, Remus was saved from any further questions by the start of the match. The noise in the stands drowned out even the magically amplified commentator, as Hufflepuff flew out onto the field. Lily clapped politely, as Sirius booed loudly to her right. The racket became deafening as Gryffindor's team appeared. Over Sirius' shrill whistles, Lily could hear boos from both the Slytherin and Hufflepuff stands.

The Keepers took their positions, looping slowly around their respective goal hoops, while the Seekers glared at each other high above the stands. The six Chasers faced each other at the center of the pitch while the four Beaters impatiently drummed their bats on the palms of their gloved hands. Lily wondered if James felt the thick anticipation for the start of the game as strongly as she did, or if he was so pumped with adrenaline that he didn't even notice. Half a second felt like thirty. The referee finally kicked open the box, allowing the Bludgers and Snitch to rocket skyward, before picking up the Quaffle and throwing it straight into the air.

The anticipation snapped like a taut elastic band as the players shot forward. Lily could never figure out how Quidditch games started without a huge pile up, with six players vying for one small ball. However, a Gryffindor player emerged from the tussle with the Quaffle tucked under her left arm. Close behind her zoomed the other five Chasers.

"Walsh takes the Quaffle in the toss up," shouted the commentator, a Ravenclaw fifth year. "Walsh passes to Potter, Potter to McDoogle, and McDoogle misses the pass because he's dodging the Bludger hit by Kline. Hufflepuff's Bogdon recovers the Quaffle. He's tearing down the field toward Dunn, looks like he's going for the score. No! He passes to Lavan at the last second, Lavan shoots…and Dunn manages to knock it away."

The Gryffindor section exploded in cheers again as their Keeper made a spectacular save. "I can't believe she's only a third year," Anne shouted in between loud whooping.

"McDoogle with the Quaffle. He dodges McCauley's Bludger successfully this time. McDoogle passes to Potter, Potter back to McDoogle, and now back to Potter."

Lily held her breath as James approached the Hufflepuff goals. He gripped the Quaffle with one hand, ready to make a shot at the goals, and, then, impossibly, he dropped the ball. Lily gasped, but then cheered as Walsh shot straight up from beneath Jame, heaving the crimson ball through the goal posts and earning Gryffindor their first points of the game.

Just audible above the crowd the announcer remarked, "what a feint by the Gryffindor Chasers, 10-0 Gryffindor."

An amazing transformation occurred at Hogwarts when Quidditch was played. Individual students suddenly became part of one teeming, screaming, conglomerate. Individual voices were lost to the roar of hundreds in perfect synchronization as their favored team either faltered or persevered. A unanimous groan rippled across the Hufflepuff section as Rancing, a Gryffindor Beater, caused Hufflepuff Chaser, Scott, to drop the Quaffle.

"Walsh grabs the dropped Quaffle, passes to Potter, who shoots…and Gryffindor scores again! That's too bad for Mulgrew. It was just off the tips of his fingers. Bogdon recovers the Quaffle and races toward the Gryffindor goals."

The crowd hit another thunderous note as a Bludger nearly collided with Bogdon, who dodged it at the last possible second with an impressive barrel roll.

"Bogdon to Scott, Scott to Lavan, Lavan takes a sharp left and throws…Hufflepuff is on the board!"

Sirius' booing and hissing and Lily's disappointed "aww" were drowned out by Hufflepuff supporters. As the match continued, it seemed with every score, the crowd screamed louder than last time. An hour into the game, Gryffindor was winning 120 to 90. A bizarre silence fell as spectators pointed to the sky, where Melinda Diggory, the Hufflepuff Seeker, dove toward the far end of the pitch. The Gryffindor Seeker, Merwine, chased hopelessly after her.

"It's a feint, you idiot," Sirius shouted hoarsely toward Gryffindor's young Seeker. And indeed, two seconds later, Diggory sharply ascended leaving her confused opponent far behind.

The display did not go unnoticed by the other players either. Believing it to be the real thing, Lavanfoolishly slowed down, allowing James to punch the Quaffle out from underneath her arm. The crowd, realizing the Snitch had not been sighted, went back to their usual cacophony as James shot toward the Hufflepuff goal post.

It happened in less than a second. Kline, hoping to distract James, smacked a Bludger directly at him. In an odd coincidence, the flying canon ball collided with a Bludger hit by Gryffindor's Burgoyne, redirecting both at odd angles. All James could do was roll away sharply. He wasn't quick enough, however, and the bludger collided with his right ankle. The crowd issued a collective "Ooooohhhh," as the commentator remarked, "and Potter looks as though he's just had his ankle broken by a Bludger."

Lily grabbed a pair of omnioculars from Peter without even asking permission. She raised them to her own eyes and squinted at the now magnified James. His ankle did indeed look broken, if the strange angle it now rested at was any indication. James, quite understandably, dropped the Quaffle, gripping his broomstick rather hard with both hands. His face appeared a pale green color.

"Why doesn't someone call time out?" Anne shouted.

"That must really hurt," Peter remakred stupidly, causing Sirius to whack him upside the head.

"No, you really think so, Wormtail?"

"Why hasn't Walsh called time out?" asked Lily, echoing Anne's concern.

Remus gently took the omnioculars from Lily's grasp and peered toward his friend. "Because the git just told her he is okay."

Lily couldn't believe her eyes. James sped determinedly toward Scott, who had possession of the Quaffle.

"You have to give him credit," Anne remarked. "He knows how to grin and bear it."

"Like the bloke he is," Lily returned disapprovingly.

"He doesn't want to leave his team a Chaser short," replied Sirius, sounding proud of James' stubborn stupidity.

For the second time in the match, an eerie silence moved over the crowd as the two Seekers shot past overhead. Lily glanced up to see the Gryffindor Seeker two broom lengths in front of a rapidly gaining Hufflepuff Seeker, a barely visible gold glint only a yard in front of him. The brooms drew even as the Seekers jostled each other. All Lily could make out was a tangle of arms reaching for a speck of feathers. Amid a sudden explosion of sound from below, Merwine closed his hand around the tiny ball and shot upward, holding his prize above his head.

"Gryffindor wins!" yelled the commentator. "Gryffindor Wins, 270 to 90!"

Gryffindor students rushed the field to congratulate their players. Lily made a beeline for James, who used his broomstick like a crutch while he congratulated Merwine on the catch.

"Brilliant game, mate," cried Sirius, giving James a stout pat on the back.

"Thanks, Padfoot," James responded through gritted teeth after the sudden movement.

"You need to see Madam Pomfrey," Lily advised, eying his now obviously swollen ankle.

"I don't even get a 'good flying James, you were bloody brilliant out there' first?" he replied cheekily.

"You were 'bloody brilliant' up until you got hurt and insisted on continuing to play."

"Yes, but I had perfect confidence that Merwine would catch the Snitch in no time. So why bother the referee with a time out, make all the fuss, and then send Gryffindor back into the air one player short, when the game was just going to end in a few minutes anyway."

"Shut your gob," Remus remarked. "You're just bloody stubborn and we all know it. Now come on, Lily is right, we ought to get you to Madam Pomfrey."

Together, Sirius and Remus supported James between them as he hobbled toward the castle. Peter, Anne, and Lily, who carried James' broomstick, followed behind. Madam Pomfrey, tutting in her usual manner when she saw James, had Sirius and Remus deposit him onto one of the immaculate hospital beds.

Lily, Anne, Peter, Sirius, and Remus all hovered silently to one side as Madam Pomfrey gently- though James looked as if he didn't find it very gentle- took off his right shoe and sock. His ankle, not only swollen to three times its normal size and laced with sickly black, blue and yellow bruising, pointed to the left more than it normally should.

"I'm going have to set the bones back into place before healing them," she told James before taking hold of his ankle and turning it quickly back to the right.

James, having seized two handfuls of sheets when she did this, exclaimed through clenched teeth, "bloody hell!"

"Had you come to me immediately," she continued, ignoring his curse, "there would have been far less swelling and that would have been far less painful." She then waved her wand over his foot, muttering an incantation. "That mended the bones," she explained, pocketing her wand once more and propping his foot up on a pillow. "However, you'll have to stay here for at least a day until all the swelling goes down. I'll give you a potion to hurry it along." She walked into a back room, returning shortly with a steaming goblet. She waited to make sure James downed the entire thing, before giving one last set of instructions. "Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, and Mr. Pettigrew, would you please help Mr. Potter get out of his Quidditch gear. Ladies, please wait in the hall."

"But why can't Lily help?" James shouted, and Lily felt herself go scarlet. Anne giggled next to her.

"It's not funny," Lily growled as the hospital doors closed behind her and Anne.

"No, it's sweet," Anne replied, leaning against the wall opposite the doors.

"Very sweet," Lily agreed sarcastically. "So sweet that anymore comments like that and Madam Pomfrey will sit me down to talk about contraceptive charms and potions."

Anne giggled, recalling the memorable talk McGonagall gave all the Gryffindor fourth year girls. Once was bad enough. "I concede. It's not sweet."

* * *

A/N: In an interview, J.K. Rowling said James had been a Chaser. He was made a Seeker in the movies. I decided to go with what Jo said. Also, the Diggory who played Seeker for Hufflepuff in this chapter, in my mind, is an aunt or older cousin of Cedric Diggory. I just liked the irony of having James play against a Diggory. If you liked this chapter, please remember to leave a review.


	12. The 'L' Word

Chapter 12

The 'L' Word

A mild chill remained in the April air as students navigated the muddy path into Hogsmeade. Most complained about the mud that threatened to suck off sneakers and caked to the hems of slacks and cloaks. However, a few pupils enjoyed the muck, sliding through it and even starting mud ball fights.

Lily barely paid attention to the skirmish playing out ahead of her, as she talked with Anne, Julian and Liza, two other seventh year Gryffindors joining them for dress robe shopping. As Julian and Liza commiserated on the difficulties of finding a nice guy to ask to the ball, Lily saw something fly out of the corner of her eye. One of the third year boys ahead of them hurled a muddy clod of earth toward another student, who had enough sense to duck. However, this left the clod sailing toward Lily, who prompting pulled out her wand, and yelled, "Protego!" The clod hit the shimmering shield a half second later, splattering mud against the magical barrier.

"Well, it's good to know that works on solid objects," Anne commented dryly as Lily glared daggers at the boys ahead of them. They looked sufficiently embarrassed, as well as terrified that the Head Girl would take points from their house.

"You're going to be one hell of a mother someday," laughed Julian. "You could turn someone to stone with that look."

"Hopefully the children won't take after James then," Anne quipped, "or they'll be in for a rough childhood."

Lily turned her death stare on Anne, but cracked a smile only seconds later. She could never stay angry for long amid her friends' banter. "And I'm sure your and Remus' children will be very well behaved bookworms," she shot back, watching Anne's face achieve a cherry red color in less than two seconds. She had made her point and proved her suspicions at the same time.

Anne managed to regain control fast enough to continue the verbal battle. "I've changed my mind. I hope your children do take after James, that way they are spared your cruel sense of humor."

"I hope yours get Remus' sense, period," Lily returned. "The brown hair too. They don't need to live up to the blonde jokes, like their mother."

"I believe I'm far closer to being named a godmother than you are, Lily," returned Anne, while Julian and Liza laughed at the antics. "Seeing as I don't even have a boyfriend."

"You, a godmother! I'd have to be insane to leave a child in your care," Lily teased. The best friends had sworn long ago that they would name each other the godmother of their children.

Still joking and laughing, the ladies arrived outside of Gladrags Wizardwear, which was packed with girls searching for dress robes. Lily cast a cleaning charm to remove the sticky mud from their shoes, jeans, and cloaks before entering. A tiny bell tinkled as they closed the door, and a frazzled looking witch busily pinning a hem line shouted, "have a look around, dears, and let me know if you need help with anything."

Descending upon the racks, the four girls joined in the general melee for ball attire. Every once in a while Anne would pop up next to Lily, offering a robe that "must have been made for you."

Lily's arms ached under a dozen or so possible choices when Anne appeared once more. She held out a shimmering green robe with a toothy grin.

"I've seen more material on lingerie," Lily protested, pushing the dress robe back at Anne.

"Oh, come on Lily," Anne pouted. "Try it on, just for fun. It matches your eyes."

Lily took the hanger, rolled her eyes, and fought her way through the throng of other shoppers in order to get to the fitting rooms. Lily and Anne stepped into adjacent rooms, pulling the curtained entrances shut before hanging their selections inside and starting up a conversation through the wall.

"I really hope this blue one fits," Anne moaned over the rustling sound of clothes being removed.

"Everything you try on fits," Lily returned, unceremoniously mounding her clothes into a heap in the corner. "You're disgusting like that."

"Jealous?"

"Not if it requires me to have a taste in clothes like that green thing."

"Have you tried it on yet?"

"No," Lily responded, making it clear that it was the last thing she wanted to wear.

Lily examined herself in the full length mirror. The chocolate brown dress robe she wore was nice, but it just didn't scream "buy me!" Anne called for Lily to look at her dress robe. Liza and Julian already stood outside Anne's room, complimenting each other on their choices.

"Hey Lily, that's nice," Anne exclaimed before twirling in her turquoise blue robe that she had already proclaimed her favorite. "What do you think?"

"I told you everything you try on always fits," Lily laughed. Anne looked very attractive in the v-cut robe, which had a slight train in the back and slit up the middle of the front.

Once more secluded in the changing room, Lily began trying on her other picks.

"Do you think I really should get this one?" Anne called from the other side of the wall.

"Yes," Lily replied seriously. "You look great in it. Now all you need to do is find a guy who will look great alongside it. I think it would match Remus' hair well, don't you?"

"It doesn't matter if it matches well or not," Anne responded, subdued. "I already asked him, but he said he couldn't go with me. I suppose that means another girl already asked him."

Lily stopped half way through pulling on another robe, shocked that Remus would turn down Anne. She had gotten the feeling he liked Anne as much as Anne liked him. And James hadn't mentioned any other girls asking him.

The truth hit Lily like a charging hippogriff. The full moon rose two days before the ball! She slapped her forehead with the heel of her hand. She had completely forgotten, or else she would have tried to keep Anne from asking Remus. Even if he wanted to go with her, he would likely be far too weak. What would Anne say when she saw that he wasn't even in attendance?

"Ah, Anne, I'm sorry," Lily finally breathed, leaning against the wall so that she didn't have to yell it for the whole store to hear. "I'll help you find another date."

"If you really want to cheer me up, you'll try on that green robe."

"Fine." Feeling guilty for teasing Anne about Remus earlier, Lily decided she could at least try the garment on.

"Well, how does it look?" Anne called a few minutes later.

Lily was unable to respond as she absorbed her reflection in the mirror. The clingy material plunged so low she was sure she had bathing suits that covered more skin, and the slits that ran the length of both sides revealed more thigh than any mini-skirt she had ever tried on. Despite the amount of flesh the robe displayed, Lily couldn't deny that the color pulled out the green in her eyes, and matched well with her fair skin and red hair.

"Lily! I want to see!" Anne's head popped through the curtain, and her jaw promptly fell open. "That's the one. You have to get that one!"

"Are you mad?" inquired Lily, finally tearing her eyes from the mirror.

"We want to see too!" echoed two more voices from outside the curtain.

Before she could dig her heels in and protest, Anne dragged her out into the store. Julian and Liza's reactions mimicked Anne's.

"You _have_ to get that one!" Liza commanded.

Julian nodded. "James will die when he sees you. You have to get that one, just so I can see his face."

"But I feel so exposed," Lily objected, resisting both her friends' advice and the voice in the back of her own head tempting her to give in.

"Imagine it with heels on!" Anne added, apparently ignoring Lily's protest. The other girls nodded their heads vigorously.

"I'm the Head Girl, I'm supposed to set a good example, not advocate dressing like a scarlet woman." It was one last ditch effort to convince herself, more than the others, that she should go more conservative.

"Don't be ridiculous, Lily," Liza responded. "Now go get changed and we'll still have time to stop at the Three Broomsticks before going back."

Sighing, Lily retreated into the dressing room and admitted defeat. She purchased the dress robe, feeling both guilty and victorious at the same time.

* * *

During the next week, Lily began her campaign to cheer up Anne by finding her a replacement date. She pointed out good looking guys in the hallways and Great Hall, dragged Anne to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Quidditch practices to scope out athletes, and suggested friendly Prefects. Anne, however, seemed to resign herself to attending stag. She ignored Lily's match-making attempts and instead mulled over who Remus had invited. As hard as she tried, Lily couldn't shake Anne out of her depression. Finally, she decided to talk to Remus without Anne knowing.

She found him a little over a week before the ball, studying in a secluded corner of the library. His table sat far from Madam Pince's cranky watch, hidden behind several long isles of dusty tomes. He looked tired, Lily noted, probably due to the combination of studying for N.E.W.T. exams and the approaching full moon.

"Hello Lily, come to study?" He startled her with his question. He hadn't even looked up from his textbooks.

"To talk, actually," Lily replied slowly. She couldn't resist the temptation, "how'd you know it was me?"

Remus cast a anti-eavesdropping charm. "Lycanthropy heightens my senses," he replied. "I could hear you coming, and well, everyone has their own unique scent, so I smelled you too."

Lily looked shocked by this information.

"Don't worry, it's a good smell," he added lightly. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Anne," Lily replied simply, taking a seat across from him. His brown eyes met hers.

"I assume you know why I turned her down?"

"Because of your furry little problem," replied Lily, borrowing the term James used to describe Remus' monthly transformation. "I assume there is no way you would be well enough to attend, after only two days?"

"I've been trying to think of potions that might help me regain enough strength to make it through a ball, but nothing I've tried in the past has ever worked."

"She thinks you turned her down because you're going with someone else. She's starting to get suspicious though, because she can't figure out who. She's practically interrogated every girl in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw above fifth year. I think she'll be after the Hufflepuffs this week."

Remus understood what Lily was suggesting. "I can't tell her the truth."

"You told me."

"You were different. I told you for James. I didn't want you to suddenly see me as a monster, but I could have handled it if you did. But Anne…" his voice trailed off.

"You really like her!"

"It hasn't been obvious?"

"Not when I'm used to the type of flirting James and Sirius engage in. You're not an easy person to read, Remus. I suspected you liked her, but not that much."

"If I tell her, she'll loathe me. I'm too dangerous to be in romantic relationships, I accepted that fact long ago. Any serious girlfriend would get suspicious every month."

"Not if you tell her. She's my best friend, Remus, I know her. She wouldn't push you away just for that."

"Can you be sure?" Remus responded insecurely. "She's a pureblood, Lily. She's been brought up with the prejudice, the fear. You didn't learn about werewolves until Hogwarts, which is why you pity me instead of fearing me."

"James is a pureblood. Sirius is a pureblood. They broke the law for you! You can't know she'll turn you away just because of her upbringing."

Remus gave an exasperated sigh. "I can't Lily."

"So you'd rather leave her depressed, doubting your feelings for her, than tell her the truth and possibly find solace and understanding?"

"I'll ask her out on a date after the ball, after the moon has waned."

"This isn't a bargain! What if I tested the water a bit, found out how she feels about werewolves?"

"You can, if it would make you feel better."

"Would it make you change your mind?" Lily's voice rose with her growing aggravation.

"Lily, let me think about it, please. I believe I have very good reasons for being so secretive. It is never an easy decision to let someone else into the loop."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push so much," apologized Lily.

"You just want to make Anne happy," Remus replied. "I understand that. I'll think about it, I promise."

* * *

Lily left Remus in the library as she went to perform her assigned Head Girl rounds. She walked the empty corridors, only meeting a Prefect, ghost, or strolling professor every once in a great while. These nighttime watches were the only drawback to the responsibility and honor of being Head Girl. Lily never enjoyed reprimanding people, and she would much rather have been studying amid the pleasant buzz of the common room than roaming silent hallways with only her thoughts.

Finally, with her three hour shift over, Lily returned to Gryffindor Tower. There were still several students studying in the common room, mostly fifth and seventh years stressing over their approaching exams. Lily collapsed into an empty arm chair next to the fire, happily relaxing to the sound of crackling logs and pleasant warmth.

Suddenly Lily's eyes flew open to the uncomfortable feeling of being watched. She realized, a bit slowly, that she had fallen asleep. Her neck cramped uncomfortably as she slowly turned her head. James watched her from the nearest chair, the dying firelight reflecting off his glasses.

"You know that's creepy, watching me sleep," she informed him. "You're like a stalker in the making."

"But you look so beautiful and peaceful when you're asleep."

"Am I to take it that means I'm not beautiful or peaceful when I'm awake?" she teased.

He pushed her over in her chair, making room for himself, so that by the time he settled in she was sitting on his lap.

"Comfortable?" Lily asked sarcastically.

"Very," he replied with a grin.

Lily noticed that the rest of the common room was empty. "How long have I been asleep?"

James shrugged. "I've only been stalking you for about five minutes. You were asleep when I came in."

"I don't know what intrigues you so much about me sleeping. You've seen me sleep before."

"Yes, but you weren't sleeping peacefully then," he responded softly.

Suppressed memories of the night after her parents' funeral came flooding back painfully. She still had nightmares sometimes, causing her to wake in tears and a cold sweat. Silently, she leaned her head against James' chest, blinking away tears.

"Sorry," James mumbled into her hair as he leaned his chin against the top of her head.

"Don't be sorry. I need to think about it, or I'll find myself homeless at the end of the term. I really do need to start looking into getting an apartment or a flat somewhere, London maybe."

They were silent for a few minutes, before James very tentatively suggested, "you could stay with me."

Lily turned her head so that she could meet his eyes. "You mean move in with you? Live together?"

Even in the dim light, she could see his face flush slightly. "Well, I mean live together in my house, but I don't expect…not in the same room or anything, unless you wanted...and Sirius will be there, of course, it's not like it would be just you and me, like we were…" He realized he was rambling and quickly concluded. "It was just a thought."

Lily continued to stare at him. She had never lived alone. She'd always had her sister and parents at home, and while at Hogwarts a dormitory full of girls. Living alone would be a huge change. Was that why James' suggestion was so tempting?

"Can I think about it?" she finally muttered.

"Of course."

She gave him a slight smile. "I'm going to go fall asleep in my bed, so you can't watch me."

He laughed lightly. "Good night then." He gently brushed his lips against hers. "I love you."

Lily, who had been about to say good night as well, felt the words catch in her throat. Had he just said he loved her? He called her 'love' all the time, but that was just a pet name. He loved her? They had only been dating for two months, how could he love her?

So she did the only thing her overworked brain could think of. With a squeaky, "good night," she fled up the girls' stairwell.

Lily didn't inhale until she closed the dormitory door behind her, leaning against it and breathing heavy, as if she had just been chased by some demon. She tried not to think as she changed into her nightdress, but the sound of James' voice repeating 'I love you' played on a continuous loop through her head. Asking her to live with him was one thing, telling her he loved her was too much for one night.

She would burst if she didn't do something. She paced in front of her bed a few times, weighing her options, before striding over to Anne's bed and wrenching back the curtains.

"Whadyawan?" Anne mumbled incoherently.

"I need to talk to you," Lily replied, climbing into bed with her best friend and pulling the curtains closed behind her. They hadn't done this- climb into each others beds to gossip- since second year. Lily cast a quick anti-eavesdropping charm.

Slightly more conscious, Anne inquired, "what's wrong?"

Lily snuggled into the warmed blankets, facing her best friend, their faces only inches apart. "James just told me he loves me."

"Is that all?"

"Anne! He said 'I love you.' He said 'I love you' after he asked me to live at his house after graduation."

Anne seemed to find this bit of information slightly more news worth than the first. "Really? He asked you to move in with him?"

"Can we focus on the important thing, please? He said he loved me."

"Well, what's the problem? Don't you love him?"

Lily hadn't expected that question. She stared at Anne's outline in the dark for several minutes, her mouth open but not producing words. Her mind mulled over the question. "How do you know if you love someone that way?" she finally muttered.

Anne shrugged. "I've never been in love, so I'm not sure. But do you enjoy being with him?"

"Of course," Lily replied, "but I enjoy spending time with all my friends."

"Does it feel like you've been together forever?"

"So much longer than just two months," breathed Lily.

"Does he turn you on?"

"Anne!" Lily hissed, blushing.

"I'm asking seriously," said Anne in a no nonsense tone. "Are you sexually attracted to him?"

Lily fought down another blush. "Yes," she finally whispered, "very much yes. But lust does not always equal love."

"Can you imagine your life without him?" Anne continued.

"No," responded Lily, "but I can't imagine my life without you, either."

Anne grinned. "Thanks, Lily. Me too. But be honest, would it feel worse to lose him?"

"Anne, that's not a fair question..."

"Just answer it truthfully. You aren't going to hurt my feelings."

Lily remained silent for a moment, thinking. As much as she hated to admit it, she'd known the answer as soon as Anne had asked. "Yes. I think I would die if I lost him."

"You went to him when you needed comfort and support," stated Anne. "You took him to your parents' funeral."

There was nothing accusatory in Anne's tone, but Lily still felt a twinge of guilt. Why had she asked James to come to the funeral instead of her best friend? He knew the pain of loss, but why had that been so comforting? Could she have subconsciously loved him even then? In her time of need, had her soul reached out for solace from its mate?

"You know what Anne? I do love him. I think I've loved him for awhile."

"I'm glad I could help you sort that out," she replied groggily.

"And I just ran out of the common room, without saying anything back to him! He thinks I hate him! I have to go tell him." Lily hopped out of bed and rushed for the door.

"You go do that," Anne responded, already half asleep.

Lily crossed the empty common room and sprinted up the steps leading to the boys' dormitories. She silently pushed open the door to the seventh year boys' dormitory and tip-toed into the dark room. It was only then, as she squinted at all four curtained beds, she realized she didn't know which one belonged to James. Praying that none of the boys enjoyed sleeping in the nude, she peeked inside the first curtained four poster bed. Sirius' shaggy head stuck out from beneath wrinkled blankets, his low snores indicating she hadn't disturbed him. She crept toward the next bed. Gently, she pulled back the curtains and peered inside.

James lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, with the blankets pulled up to his bare navel. His glasses sat on his bedside stand, but he didn't reach for them. He turned his head toward Lily but remained silent.

Lily sat down on the edge of his bed, pulling the curtains shut, before stretching out beside him. He made no move to touch her in return. "I love you too," she whispered.

His arms suddenly encircled her, pulling her tightly against his chest. One hand ran through her hair, gently coaxing her face closer to his. When their lips met, fireworks seemed to explode inside Lily's body. His kisses felt urgent and needy. With a slight shock, Lily realized that proud, confident James Potter was just as insecure as her when it came to sharing his feelings. She tired to show how much she loved him with her return kisses, and soon both gasped for air. James pulled away, breathlessly whispered the incantation for an imperturbable charm, then pressed his lips against Lily's once more.


	13. In The Garden

Chapter 13

In The Garden

A slamming door startled Lily from her slumber. She looked around, disoriented, before she remember where she was. And who she was with.

Merlin, what time was it? Had Anne noticed she'd never returned to her bed last night? And where the hell were her clothes?

Lily pushed herself into a sitting position, the blankets slipping off her bare chest. The movement disturbed James, who cracked open one eye. A grin spread over his face as he took in his view. Lily, blushing, automatically reached to pull the blankets back up, but James stopped her.

"You're beautiful," he whispered in her ear, sending tingles down her spine. "Please don't hide your body from me."

Lily opened her mouth to reply when the bed curtains suddenly flew open as a voice shouted, "Prongs, wake up, you're going to be late for Potions."

Screeching in surprise, Lily clawed at the sheets. James protectively pulled her against him, leaving only her bare back exposed to Sirius, who stood petrified in dumbfounded, wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock alongside the bed.

"Get lost, Black," James bellowed, truly angry. He threw a hand towards Sirius, who stumbled backward as if hit by an invisible force. With another wave of James' arm, the curtains raced shut, plunging the bed back into darkness.

Lily tried not to hyperventilate. "The entire school will know in an hour. Professor McGonagall will take my Head Girl badge away," she cried.

"Love, I promise she will not," James replied, pecking her on the lips. He swung his legs over the edge of the mattress and pulled on his boxers. He then slipped around the bed curtains and she heard him yell again. "Sirius Black, don't you dare leave this room."

"You just told me to get lost," Sirius retorted.

"This doesn't leave this room, Sirius, do you understand? Not a word to anyone, not even Remus or Peter."

"But Prongsie," Sirius whined.

Lily flinched as she heard something, or someone, hit the wall with a loud thump. She began feeling around for her missing nightdress, curious to know what was going on beyond the curtain.

"Will you cut it out with the wandless magic?" groaned Sirius.

"Swear to me, Sirius. Swear you won't breathe a word, not one wise crack, nothing."

"Shall I swear on my dear mother's grave?" Sirius inquired jovially. "Although she's sadly not in it yet."

"You'll swear on my mother's grave," James growled, his voice dangerous.

Lily finally located her clothes near the foot of the bed. She hurriedly dressed, listening with rapt attention to the altercation continuing beyond the hangings.

"Don't you think you're overreacting just a little?" reasoned Sirius. "It's not like anyone will care."

"_Lily _cares," shot James. "Now swear, or I'll never speak to you again."

A stunned silence followed James' threat. Finally, Sirius spoke in a meek, but serious, voice. "I swear, on your good mother's grave, I will take what I saw and what I know to my grave."

"Thank you," James replied, his voice more relaxed.

The door opened and closed, and Lily felt safe to emerge from behind the bed curtains. James pulled her close to him. "I'm so sorry," he muttered into her hair. "My actions last night were completely inappropriate..." The rest of his breath left his lungs in a big gush as Lily punched him.

"Don't you dare apologize, James Potter. I wouldn't take back last night for the world."

James gaped. "You wouldn't? Even knowing Sirius would find out?"

Lily nodded as she embraced him again.

"So does meant we can do it again?" he asked hopefully.

Lily laughed. "I most certainly hope so. But next time, I'll make sure I put a sticking charm on the curtains. Now, you'd better get dressed. We have five minutes to make it to Potions."

James glanced at the clock and back at Lily's disheveled figure. "I'll make it, but what about you?"

"Just worry about yourself. Slughorn will buy any excuse I feed him."

"Here," James opened the trunk at the foot of his bed and pulled out a shimmering cloak. "Just in case there is anyone in the common room."

"I love you," Lily gushed, rising onto her toes to kiss him. "See you in class." She pulled the cloak over her head and rushed out the door. Several older students with free periods lounged in the common room, making Lily exceptionally grateful for the invisibility cloak. She charged into her dormitory to change into fresh clothes and tame her hair. She took her time, ensuring she looked no different than any other morning, while she mulled over possible excuses.

Twenty minutes later, Lily strolled calmly into Potions class. "I'm so sorry for being late, Professor. One of the first year girls became ill so I helped her to the infirmary. You may check with Madam Pomfrey, if you'd like."

Professor Slughorn just waved her off. "No need, no need, Lily, my dear. The other students have a head start on their Fire Protection Potions, but I dare say that just gives them a sporting chance once you get brewing. Remember, though, you will be testing them personally."

Slughorn sauntered off to gauge his pupils' progress as Lily quickly set up her cauldron, potions book and ingredients. Anne shot her a look that spoke volumes. Clearly, Lily's absence from bed that the morning had been noted. However, much to Lily's surprise, Anne gave her a huge grin, a thumbs up, and then motioned locking her lips and throwing away the key. No swearing on graves required in exchange for Anne's silence.

* * *

The day before the seventh year ball, Lily entered the common room expecting to find James, Sirius, and Peter snoozing on the sofas after a night in animagus form. Instead, she found three rather awake, yet disgruntled, men.

"Rough night?" she teased.

"Anything but," replied Sirius tersely. "Moony didn't want to do _anything_ except sleep. Said he didn't want us up all night so we were exhausted for the bloody ball."

"And that's a problem why?"

"Because sleeping isn't adventurous," he shouted.

"Sleeping can be plenty adventurous, Black," Anne shouted back as she stepped off the final dormitory step. "You just have to sleep with the right person."

"Padfoot is just upset because all his planning was for nothing," James explained softly. They stopped talking about the full moon as Anne came within normal earshot of their group.

She seemed to do a sort of head count before asking, "where's Remus?"

"In the hospital wing. He got pretty sick last night. We think Snivellus may have put something in his dinner," James said quickly, as Lily, Sirius, and Peter all nodded in agreement with the rehearsed lie.

"Oh," Anne replied, looking slightly crestfallen. "He is sick a lot, have you ever noticed?"

Sirius coughed slightly before replying convincingly, "well, he accidentally got into some potion when he was a kid, which weakened his immune system. He doesn't like talking about it though."

Anne seemed temporarily satisfied by that answer, and they all clambered out through the portrait hole and toward breakfast. Lily and James hung back a bit from the rest of the group, holding hands as they strolled through the shafts of sunshine breaking through the dusty windows. Something had changed after their night spent together. Maybe it was just knowing she was loved so deeply by another person, but Lily swore she could feel the slightest magical energy whenever she touched James. No matter how many times he whispered "I love you," the thrill she felt whenever he said it still hadn't faded. She hoped it never would.

The night of the ball arrived with utter chaos at Hogwarts. Due to the decoration of the Great Hall for the dance, a dinner of sandwiches and pumpkin juice was served in each very crowded common room for all the younger students. Above the frantic Gryffindor common room, five seventh years girls tried to deal with the fact that their bathroom had only one mirror. The possibly volatile situation was defused when Anne suggested getting ready in shifts. While Liza used the mirror to apply her makeup, Anne and Christine did Lily and Julian's hair. Once Liza was finished, it would be Julian's turn for the mirror, and so on. And James had questioned why they needed three hours to get ready for a dance. Showed what he knew.

Lily blew a rogue strand of red hair away from her face, as Anne yanked none too gently on the rest.

"Stop moving your head," Anne commanded, curling a strand of fiery hair with her wand.

Christine announced Julian's hair done, and Lily's eyes followed Julian across the room, admiring the tight, sleek up-do of chestnut locks, studded with sequins to match those in her dress robes. A _Witch Weekly_ had been constantly open in their dormitory in the week leading up to the ball. Each girl agonized over a hair style and the required wand movements to accomplish it. Lily had finally selected a messy bun style that allowed some of her hair to cascade down past her shoulders in soft curls.

With a final flick of her wand, Anne announced that Lily's hair was finally finished. Crossing the room to peer into the now vacant mirror, Lily couldn't deny she looked very good, but the word "hooker" kept popping up in the back of her mind. She closed her eyes and touched the tip of her wand to both eyelids. When she opened them, sparkly, green eyelids and mascara covered eyelashes stared back. She touched the wand to her lips next, puckering to smooth the fresh pink lipstick. She adjusted the long silver necklace accenting the plunging neckline of the robe and made sure the matching, dangling earrings were secure. Her thumb brushed against the silver ring she had slipped onto her right ring finger, an heirloom passed down to her on her sixteenth birthday by her mother. The single, shimmering pearl nestled in its setting, rimmed on the right side by three tiny diamonds. Lily was well aware it was probably the most expensive thing she owned.

She left the mirror and sat on her bed, waiting for the other girls to finish. It was half past seven already, and Lily's stomach ached for dinner, which wasn't scheduled to be served until eight. Fifteen minutes later, all the girls were fully primped and ready to go. As Anne opened the dormitory door, an obnoxious voice floated up from the common room.

"Any time now would be good ladies."

"Patience is a virtue, Black," Anne returned before beginning to walk carefully down the spiral staircase, her heels clicking on each step. Lily had worried Anne would regret attending the dance without a date, but she was happy to see Anne walking into the common room with her head held high.

As Lily emerged into the common room behind Anne, she was quite happy to see the dumbstruck expression on James' face. Julian giggled behind Lily. "I told you he would die when he saw you." She raised her camera and snapped a picture of James' gape before moving to find her own date.

James seemed incapable of speech as Lily approached him. He looked very handsome in his black dress robe with white tuxedo-like undershirt. It even looked like he had attempted to tame his unruly black hair, but with little success.

He finally managed to close his mouth as Lily gave him a gentle kiss. "You…look…ravishing," he finally managed to say with short, breathy words. His eyes swept across her entire body several times, halting briefly somewhere south of her chin, before moving back to her face.

"You can thank Anne for this," Lily replied, indicating her garb. "She picked it out."

"I always liked her," James replied distantly, still distracted by Lily's dress robe.

"We're ready to go whenever you feel you can safely put one foot in front of the other," Anne called to James from near the portrait hole.

Julian forced everyone to huddle together, then bullied a fourth year into taking a picture of them. As the portrait of the Fat Lady closed behind them, the obese woman called helpfully, "I don't expect to see any of you until very late, do you hear me? But don't do anything I wouldn't do."

A fair number of students milled around the entrance to the Great Hall, waiting for their dates from other houses. Peter met his date, a rather pudgy, but friendly looking fifth year from Ravenclaw. They had been set up by Sirius' date, a very attractive Gryffindor fifth year, who had no doubt fallen for one of Sirius' signature pick up lines. Christine immediately squealed in delight and ran to hug her boyfriend, who had graduated the year before and made a special trip back to take her to the ball. She, as his longtime girlfriend, was the only one of Lily's friends who had been to any past balls. Julian had, in her own words, "caught herself a Quidditch player". Lily immediately formed an opinion that the seventh year Hufflepuff Beater had more muscles than brains, but he _was_ rather nice to look at. Liza completed the couplings with her date, a Ravenclaw sixth year prefect. This left Anne as the only one without a partner, but she still seemed completely content.

The Great Hall had been transformed. The floor, usually covered by four long house tables, was dotted with round, eight person tables. Golden utensils sparkled atop maroon table cloths. Each table displayed a magically un-meltable ice sculpture as a centerpiece, which doubled as a fountain. The platform where the teachers usually sat also housed several round tables, at which many of the professors were already seated. Erected against one wall sat a stage that would eventually hold the live band. Climbing vines sprouting petite flowers every few centimeters covered the walls. The vines even traversed the high ceiling, creating flowering arches, giving the illusion of being under a garden trellis. Magical streamers swam lazily through the air, carefully avoiding the levitating candles charmed into chandeliers over each round table.

James and Lily sat at one of the tables in the middle of the Great Hall, along with Sirius, Peter, their dates, and Anne. One chair remained conspicuously unoccupied, and Lily secretly hoped some handsome seventh year would take it for Anne's sake. Christine, Julian, and Liza, along with their dates, grabbed the next table. Lily looked down at her empty plate longingly. She was no longer just hungry, she was starving. The boys began a heated, but still friendly, discussion of professional Quidditch with the men at Julian's table. The final, straggling students were taking their seats when Lily heard two familiar voices ringing in the now empty entrance hall.

"I _can_ walk ten meters, it won't kill me."

"Part of our agreement, I remind you, is that you do exactly what I tell you regarding your health. Hence, you will not be walking, dancing, or doing anything more strenuous than eating tonight. You will sit in your chair the whole night. If you wish to visit the gardens, you will be wheeled out there. Do you understand me?"

A weak "yes ma'am" followed.

Anne's head snapped up at the sound of the voices. A few seconds later, Madam Pomfrey appeared, pushing a very harassed looking Remus Lupin in an old fashioned wheelchair. Anne looked at Lily briefly, as if for confirmation that she wasn't hallucinating, before turning back to stare at Remus.

"Did you know?" Lily whispered to James, who watched the unfolding scene with a mischievous grin.

"I knew he was going to try and talk her into it. I didn't think he'd succeed."

Remus directed Madam Pomfrey to their table, with a broad grin on his tired face. Lily noticed half-healed cuts on the side of his face and arms. He raised a hand to wave at them, and Lily didn't miss the grimace of pain that crossed his face. Having his entire skeletal structure rearranged twice in one night must be hell on his muscles.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked Anne softly, rolling to a stop alongside the eighth chair at their table.

She shook her head, and he stood to get into the dining chair. He looked away from Anne as he did so, hiding another grimace. Madam Pomfrey watched the process like a hawk. Once she was sure Remus would not suddenly fall out of the chair, she made the wheelchair vanish with a swish of her wand. She joined the professors at the front tables, with the simple warning, "if I see you out of that chair you'll be back in your hospital bed faster than a summoning charm."

Remus leaned over and whispered something to Anne, making her blush and smile at the same time. Before Sirius or James could make any inappropriate comments, Headmaster Dumbledore stood. His very presence commanded almost instant silence.

From her first day at Hogwarts, Lily recognized Dumbledore as a man who had the gift to know exactly what to say in any situation. She had heard him make rousing speeches, but he was also a man of few words when the time called for it. She and her rumbling stomach were very happy when he decided this was one of the occasions for few words.

"Welcome, everyone, but especially our seventh year students, to the seventh year ball. Please enjoy your evening." He waved his hands and small menus appeared on everyone's plate, signalling the start of the feast.

The clinking of silverware on plates complimented buzzing chatter as students ate. Lily contently listened as Sirius and Peter's dates talked excitedly about the band that would be playing: Salem's Revenge. Their conversation, however, halted when Peter accidentally spilled a goblet full of pumpkin juice down his front, causing Sirius to laugh and simultaneously choke on his food. James chuckled as he gave Sirius several hard pats on the back, which didn't seem to help the situation. Peter, completely red faced, had to try the scourgify charm three times before it worked properly. His date looked a little embarrassed. She was clearly there for the food, the band, and the chance to say she had attended.

After Peter cleaned himself up and Sirius regained a normal capacity to breathe, the conversation came around to what they were all going to do after Hogwarts. Lily knew more than half the people at the table were planning on joining up with Dumbledore's secret order to fight Voldemort, but with a small start, she realized she didn't know what anyone wanted to do as a legitimate job, not even James.

"I'll take whatever job the ministry offers me," Anne quipped quite seriously. She wanted to get into government, but also knew she would have to start at the bottom and work her way up if she wanted any sort of power.

James shrugged at the question. He didn't have to worry about money. "I was thinking professional Quidditch maybe, or perhaps an Auror, though I don't know if I'm good enough in Potions."

"I want to work at Zonko's," Sirius replied, obviously joking, but offering no further information.

Remus remained oddly silent as he pushed mashed potatoes around his plate. Lily figured he was so tired he may not be paying attention to their conversation.

"I'd like to work in the experimental charms department at the Ministry," she said to no one's surprise. Most of the school knew she was excellent at Charms.

"I don't know yet," Peter said quietly, looking embarrassed again, this time because he hadn't picked a career. Lily, having grown so accustomed to Peter always tailing after James, Sirius, and Remus, wondered how he would get on when he was on his own.

"You're really good at Care of Magical Creatures," Lily suggested gently, knowing he was in the N.E.W.T level class. "I bet you could work for the Ministry with that."

Peter didn't seem thrilled with that idea, and the table fell into awkward silence as dessert appeared in front of them. For Lily, talking about what they were doing after Hogwarts had a depressing effect. She didn't feel like she was ready for the real world, after having lived in the relatively sheltered seclusion of Hogwarts for the past seven years. Despite being of age for over a year, she didn't feel like an adult. Graduation would come, though, forcing her to leave a place she considered a second home. Then she would be off to develop charms by day and fight dark wizards by night. It sounded like some Muggle superhero, she thought wryly, as the image of her standing atop a building, cape billowing in the wind and body covered in colorful spandex sprang to mind. _Super Lily, felling Dark Wizards with a single spell!_ Except people got injured fighting Voldemort, some even died. For the first time, she began to regret agreeing to join Dumbledore's order. She had never felt more like a little girl than she did now.

"Lily…" James' voice brought her out of her internal self inspection. Somewhere along the way she had finished her cobbler, and the tables had been magically cleared. All the students rose to their feet, and it was only then that Lily noticed Dumbledore stood as well. Anne held Remus's arm bracingly as he slowly got to his feet. With a wave of Dumbledore's wand, the tables disappeared and the chairs flew against the walls. Seemingly of their own accord, the floating candles rearranged to light a large square area in front of the stage, reminding Lily of a Muggle disco.

A troop of men in brightly colored, sequined robes took their place on the stage, as more magical candles converged as spotlights. Lily followed James toward the stage, along with most of the other students, as the first chords of a song rang out. She looked over her shoulder, glimpsing Anne and Remus sitting against the far wall.

Despite the fact that the band was very good, and she loved dancing with James, after a full hour of ear splitting guitars and drums, Lily was ready for a break. She and James weaved their way out of the throng of dancing students and made for the gardens. Passing the spot she had last seen Anne and Remus, Lily was surprised to find them missing.

The gardens had been elaborately decorated for the ball. A shimmering magical dome covered the Hogwarts grounds, blurring the stars and barely waning moon, but also providing a pleasant climate for students to stroll and sit in. Life sized ice sculptures dotted the lawns and hedge gardens. The same flowering vines used inside the Great Hall covered most of the hedges as well. Wooden benches were strategically placed throughout the gardens, and several couples were putting them to good use. Lily resisted the urge to morph into Head Girl mode and reprimand them, especially since she had the sneaking suspicion she would end up no better than they by the end of the night. She ended up being right.

Lily wasn't sure what time it was when she and James finally made it back to the common room. Both had spent their time in the garden deliriously happy in the arms of the other, using the privacy of the high hedges to their advantage. They shared a long kiss goodnight, neither wanting to admit that the night had to end. Sirius, with his usual perfect timing, finally forced them to separate as he climbed through the portrait hole, cat-calling as he ascended the dormitory steps.

Opening her dormitory door, Lily found that no one was in bed yet. Anne sat in bed, already out of her dress robe and with her hair combed out, watching as Liza and Christine scrubbed the makeup off their faces and undid their hair. Julian, apparently, was still enjoying the night with her Quidditch player.

After Lily had changed, removed all her jewelry and makeup, and brushed out her hair, she sat down next to Anne, who gave her a very wide grin.

"Remus said he was afraid he would get sick and not be able to come. That's why he said he couldn't go with me," Anne spouted happily. "He said he didn't want to leave me dateless at the last minute, but that he really did want to go with me."

Lily smiled at her best friend, happy that she was happy. "So you don't care that you didn't dance?"

Anne shook her head. "We watched for a while, before he called Madam Pomfrey over to conjure his wheelchair so we could go out in the garden. It took us forever to convince her she didn't need to chaperone us, though."

"Should you have had a chaperone?" Lily teased.

"We were on our best behavior, thank you. I'm sorry I can't say the same for you, Ms. Evans."

Lily attempted to look innocent.

"Remus and I saw you and James as we were walking- well I was walking, pushing him- either way, Miss Head Girl, you seemed quite busy, so we didn't disturb you."

Lily's face matched her hair as she focused on a crease in Anne's bed sheets.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you," Anne said a few seconds later, tugging on Lily's hand so Lily looked up at her. "You and James really are great together. You've both changed so much this year, you had to. I see the way you look at each other and it's obvious that you're both completely and utterly in love. So, if you want to snog each other senseless in the garden, go for it."

"You're the best," Lily laughed, falling sideways onto Anne's pillow. She lowered her voice. "But I want to hear about you and Remus."

Anne grinned back at her friend. "There's not much to tell, Lily. We talked the whole night, and I wheeled him back to the hospital wing when he started getting really tired. That's it."

"No kiss goodnight?" asked Lily, disappointed.

"He's ill, Lily!"

"So?"

Anne sighed lightly. "He did ask me if I wanted to go to the next Hogsmeade weekend with him."

"You can kiss him then."

Anne wrenched the pillow out from under Lily's head and hit her with it. "Just because you're snog happy doesn't mean the rest of us have to be."

Another pillow sailed over and landed on Lily. "Go to sleep, you two," Liza commanded from her bed on the other side of the room. She turned to pull her curtains shut as Lily banished the pillow back at her, nailing her in the back of the head.

A magical pillow fight ensued within seconds. Christine got dragged in as a few conveniently off target pillows hit her. Julian finally made her appearance into the giggling dormitory, ducking as a pillow narrowly missed her already greatly messed hair.

The pillows ceased flying as the other four girls turned their attention to Julian. She sashayed into the bathroom, ignoring the questioning looks the other girls gave her. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Liza burst out "Julian, why is your dress robe unzipped?" as the other three girls roared with laughter.


	14. Threats and Proposals

Chapter 14

Threats and Proposals

With the ball over, the fifth and seventh year students found themselves in the final stretch before exams. Stress levels led to breakdowns and blowups, with several episodes of hexes flying in the corridors between classes. Lily, though, managed her stress fairly well, but the last thing she wanted was more added to it.

The usual flutter of wings announced the arrival of the mail during Thursday's breakfast. Several students looked up, hoping for a delivery, while others seemed quite surprised to find they had letters.

Lily rewarded the owl that landed in front of her with a bit of toast as she removed the parchment from around its leg. She hadn't been expecting anything, but she didn't mind surprises. Breaking the plain wax seal holding shut the folded parchment, she gaped at the single sentence contained. Her breath caught in her throat and she felt much the same way she had when McGonagall had told her about her parents' deaths. Her body felt suddenly cold and her hands shook, the letter fluttering back to the table.

James, noticing the sudden change in her body language, bent closer to read what had upset her. '**_Prepare to die, Mudblood_**,' stood out against the tan of the parchment. It was signed, not with a name, but with a symbol: Voldemort's dark mark.

James jumped to his feet, fist crushing the note. For a second Lily thought he was going to hex Snape, who had called her 'mudblood' on several occasions. Instead, he walked briskly to the front of the Great Hall, placing the crumpled note in front of Dumbledore, who sat peeling a soft boiled egg. Lily looked down the Gryffindor table and saw two Muggle-born first years crying. Similarly shell shocked students stared at each other at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.

Dumbledore's chair scraped against the stone floor as he stood, his egg forgotten."May I please see, with a show of hands, how many students received this disturbing letter this morning?" He threw the crumpled parchment into the air, where it instantly enlarged so the entire Great Hall could read the words. Amid many shocked gasps, two dozen shaky hands reached into the air. "Prefects, please take all members of your houses back to your common rooms. Do not leave until your head of house gives you permission. I'd like to see all staff members in my office, now."

* * *

The packed Gryffindor common room rang with voices as the students waited for word from Professor McGonagall. It took fifteen minutes for Lily to convince a sobbing, terrified first year that she would not be murdered the moment she stepped outside the common room. Lily eventually left the girl in the care of friends, and joined James, Sirius, Peter, Remus, and Anne, who mulled about angrily in the corner next to the fireplace. All throughout the common room, agitated students paced, many with wands out and at the ready. Lily hadn't loosed her grip on her wand since leaving the Great Hall.

"Bastards," Sirius spat. He hadn't said much else since leaving the Great Hall.

Lily agreed with his assessment. "I wouldn't care so much if it was just me they targeted, but to send death threats to eleven-year-olds, I could just…." The anger prevented her from forming any more words, as a few dark sparks spouted from the end of her wand.

"Bastards," Sirius muttered again.

"We know, Sirius," James shouted in frustration, slamming his fist down on top of the fireplace mantle. He was not taking the threat on Lily's life very well, wanting nothing more than to hex someone just so he would feel better.

"Why would Voldemort do this?" Anne questioned. "Surely the Daily Prophet will get wind of this, and once word gets out, it will serve just to make people dislike him even more."

"He could care less whether people like him," Remus responded grimly. "This is about fear." He waved an arm toward the common room. "See how well it worked? He's managed to make us feel vulnerable in one of the safest places in Britain. And the out cry from the rest of the wizarding world won't be as strong as we'd like. A fairly sizable percentage of the population believes Voldemort will not bother them as long as they keep their noses clean. Fear will keep them silent, even if they feel outraged. Too many people just hope Voldemort will go away without them having to do anything about it. And the others, well, there is still too much prejudice placed on blood purity."

When Professor McGonagall finally entered, the common room fell instantly quiet. Her mouth set in a grim line, but her face softened slightly when she glimpsed the tear stained faces of several students. "First, I want to remind everyone that, at the moment, there is no safer place for you than Hogwarts. Every Muggle-born student in the school received this letter, leading us to believe this was more of a scare tactic than an actual threat. However, the staff has agreed that we can not take any risks, thus all further Hogsmeade trips have been canceled. In addition, until the Ministry of Magic supplies us with extra external protection, the grounds will be off limits, this includes Quidditch. All Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology classes will be guided to and from the school by a staff member. If you receive any more threatening letters or feel threatened by any other students, please come see me immediately. Now, please prepare for your second period classes."

In usual Hogwarts fashion, the school could talk of nothing more than the threats for the first half of the day. Professors, already irritable about the threats, became even more irate as students kept whispering and passing notes in class. Gyffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff students took it upon themselves to ensure no harm befell their Muggle-born peers, huddling close to them while walking between classes, the Great Hall, and their common rooms. Even Lily had her own little guard, made up of her fellow seventh years. Slytherin house, recognizing a volatile situation, kept to themselves for most of the day, and held back their usual insults. This was unfortunate for James, who itched for Snape to utter one wrong word so he had a reason to try an Incontinence Jinx he'd recently discovered.

However, by the end of the day, life at Hogwarts slowly returning to normal. Enough time had passed between breakfast and dinner that a couple sixth year Gryffindors felt it was safe for them to complain about the cancellation of Hogsmeade visits. "I don't know why they can't just tell the Muggle-borns to stay here and let the rest of us go, it isn't as if they'd attack us, we're purebloods." However, they discovered very quickly that such comments were still out of line, as James finally got to try out his new spell.

* * *

That evening James pulled Lily aside in the common room. He settled her into a chair as far from most of the other occupants of Gryffindor tower as possible. "Have you thought any more about moving in with me?"

Lily noted that this time he didn't dance around the term as he had when he had first introduced her to the idea. She had thought about it, spending many nights mulling it over in her head. "James, it isn't that I don't want to move in with you, but…"

He opened his mouth to interrupt, but she placed a hand over his lips.

"…but I need to feel like I'm independent, an adult."

"You are an adult," James interrupted, pulling her hand off his mouth. "It's very adult to move in with someone."

"I don't mean it like that. I need to have a job, pay my own bills and live in my own place. I know I am technically an adult, but Hogwarts still coddles me. I mean, the house elves cook, clean, and even do my laundry. If I move in with you James, it's just going to continue." She once more covered his mouth with her hand. "You're going to say I can be plenty independent living with you. But are you going to let me pay the bills? Split the cost of living? It's going to feel like you are taking care of me."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Because I think relationships should be equal. We should take care of each other, not just one way."

"Then that's a no, you won't move in with me?" The sheer disappointment on his face nearly broke Lily's heart.

"Not right after school, but that doesn't mean never," she soothed, placing a hand gently on the side of his face. His clenched jaw radiated tension through his face.

"What if _I_ moved in with _you_?" he asked desperately. "We would share all the expenses, I swear. Would you agree to that?"

"James, you have a perfectly good house…"

"Would you agree to that?"

Lily sighed. "James, this is about what happened this morning, isn't it?"

"I liked the idea of living with you before," James replied, "for my own selfish reasons. But after today, I don't want you living alone for your safety. I can't take that risk. If someone were to take you away from me.."

"James," reasoned Lily calmly, "even if I hadn't gotten that letter this morning, I will be targeted for helping Dumbledore. We both know the risks we are taking in openly fighting the Dark Lord. If Voldemort wants me dead, he'll send death eaters after me even if I am living with you. If they are strong enough to get past _my_ wards and protection charms, they're likely powerful enough to kill us both."

"But I'd be there!"

"To do what, James, heroically hold them off while I escape? I don't run from dark wizards. Life wouldn't be worth living if it meant sacrificing you."

"Lily, my love, I feel the same way. Can't you understand then why I want to always be near to you? Is there nothing that can change your mind? What if...what if we got married?"

Lily froze, feeling as if she had been hit with a full body bind. "My god, you're serious about that," she finally responded, "aren't you?"

He nodded and her brain finally started functioning again. Marriage? They were too young. They hadn't been dating nearly long why did the idea give her a thrill she had never known?

"So?" James coaxed.

She blinked at him, almost ready to say 'so what?' before she caught herself. He wanted an answer? Now?

"Lily?" The wrenching sadness in James' voice tore at Lily's heart. He wouldn't meet her gaze, as if he already knew she would say no.

Lily finally found her voice. She lifted his chin, forcing him to meet her eyes. Then, with a cheeky smile, bought herself some more time to think. "James, Potter, don't think you're getting away with proposing like that. No ring, no down on one knee, no 'you would make me the happiest man alive if..." I want the Prince Charming proposal, and only then will you get my answer." She kissed him, but slipped out of the chair before he could say anything in reply.

It was only later, after she had escaped to the girls' dormitory, that she realized she had essentially accepted his proposal with that little spiel. There was no way she could say no if he actually went through with it. For some odd reason, however, she found that didn't bother her. James Potter wanted to marry her. The idea made her so giddy an obnoxiously large grin graced her face every time she thought about it, which was so often Anne began questioning if she had been sniffing Potions supplies.

* * *

James slumped down next to Sirius after watching Lily retreat to her dormitory. He mulled over his own sudden suggestion of marriage in shocked silence. Wasn't he at the age where the mere mention of marriage sent him screaming in the other direction? Yet, as surprising as his own words had been, he didn't mind they had suddenly spilled out. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Lily Evans, otherwise he never would have asked her to move in. Commitment didn't scare him, as long as it was Lily he was committing to. He smirked as he thought of his dozen or so ex-girlfriends who had charged him with that very crime. Wouldn't they be surprised to find him engaged before the school year was out?

"Why do you look so cocky?" Sirius inquired as he finished the last line of a Transfiguration essay.

Expecting enthusiastic responses from his friends, James replied, "I think I'm going to propose to Lily."

Remus' transfiguration book slipped out of his hands, knocking over Sirius' ink well, sending a black tide across the table. None of the boys moved to clean it up. Peter's mouth fell open, the stolen scone he'd been munching on falling into his lap. With a snap, Sirius' quill broke in two as his fingers closed around it.

"You're thinking of doing what?" Sirius finally choked, looking as if he'd give up his entire inheritance to hear James say 'just kidding.'

"Asking Lily to marry me," James repeated, watching Sirius warily. "What are you doing?" James finally asked, as Sirius pinched his own arm repeatedly.

"Hoping to wake up from this nightmare," Sirius responded, giving himself one last hard pinch.

"What is so nightmarish about me getting married?" James demanded, rekindling his bad temper from the morning's events.

"We're supposed to be bachelors," Sirius replied hotly, "you and me. We decided in fourth year that when we graduated we'd get a place somewhere and live the glorious lives of bachelors together. We're eighteen and you want to throw away your freedom and get married?"

"First," James replied through gritted teeth, "we had barely gone through puberty when we made that deal. A lot of things have changed since. Second, we're going to be fighting Voldemort and you still expect us to live the glorious lives of bachelors? We're going to risk our lives, but eighteen is too young to get married? Third, I love Lily. I don't see it as throwing away my freedom."

Sirius' face suddenly lit up. "I get it! She cut you off, didn't she, after that one night? Are you really that desperate to get back into Evans' pants?"

In a flash, James jumped to his feet, his wand pointed at Sirius, who had also drawn his wand. Half a second later Remus was between them, a hand pushing against both their chests, keeping them from hurling hexes.

"You _swore_, Sirius," spit James. He swished his wand under Remus' arm, but missed. A brick exploded as the jinx hit it, sending a group of third years running.

Bellowing, Sirius tried to retaliate, but also missed, setting a sofa cushion on fire. Peter yelped, jumping up and mumbling "Aguamenti."

"Enough," Remus shouted, and with two quick flicks of his wand, James and Sirius' arms snapped to their sides, useless. With a shove, he pushed both men onto opposite sofas. "Sirius, that comment was completely uncalled for. I suggest you go cool off in the dormitory." Remus flipped his wand again, and Sirius' arms sprang apart.

Glaring and Remus and James, Sirius roughly grabbed his books and parchment and stomping his way up the boys' staircase.

"Way to be the mother, Moony," James complained. "You should have just let me at him."

"He's your best mate. I'm not letting you hex him."

"You heard what he said, he deserves a good hex. Honestly, what did he expect me to do when we graduated, dump Lily and go gallivanting around as a bachelor?"

"Actually, yes, I think he did."

James stared a Remus incredulously for a few seconds. "Doesn't he know how serious Lily and I are?"

"Even _I_ didn't know how serious you and Lily were until you mentioned marriage. You have to admit it's a bit sudden. You haven't been dating all that long, and you aren't renowned for having deep, long lasting relationships. And for Sirius, well, there are mud puddles deeper than the relationships he's had, so I don't think he can even understand what it feels like to want to spend a lifetime with another person."

"I can see your point," conceded James. "It still doesn't excuse what Sirius said. However, I'm no longer going to hex him, so please release my arms."

Remus flicked his wand, releasing James from the arm-locking jinx.

James flexed his elbows, getting the blood flowing again. "Were you always this reasonable, or is it just a side effect of your furry little problem?"

Remus smirked. "It's the trade off for loosing all capacity to reason once a month. I'm full of it the other twenty-nine days."

"So, all reasonable one, what am I going to do about Sirius?"

"_You_ should let him cool down. _I'm_ going to go try and talk to him." Remus began walking toward the boys' staircase.

"Hey Moony, one more question," James called, "who's Prince Charming?"


	15. Prince Charming

Chapter 15

Prince Charming

James leaned back against his gold and scarlet pillows, allowing his mind to wander as he stared at the small, black velvet box sitting on his nightstand. He sighed contently as thoughts of his and Lily's wedding night filled his head. _That_ was not the reason he wanted to marry her, but it was a damn good perk. He practically hit the ceiling when the dormitory door opened unexpectedly and Sirius entered. James was suddenly very glad for the forgotten charms book that lay open on his lap.

"Been studying?" James asked casually. His and Sirius's conversations had felt forced ever since their spat almost two weeks ago.

Sirius shrugged. "A bit, took a short break though, you know, just to clear my mind."

James nodded understandably. Sirius's hair was ruffled, shirt untucked, and tie partially undone and twisted. "You have lipstick on your collar, by the way."

"Damn," Sirius examined his shirt collar in the mirror. "You would think with everything magic can do, they'd invent make-up that stayed on the girl and off the guy."

"There you go then, figure that one out and you'll be a hero to lusty wizards everywhere."

Sirius didn't respond, just pointed his wand at the pink stains, causing them to disappear. He pulled off his tie entirely and crossed the room to throw it and his books on his bed. He sat down on the four-post, eying the box on James's nightstand. "So you're really going to do it then?"

"Yeah, I'm really going to do it," James replied, wondering if another argument loomed.

"I am sorry, James, for what I said in the common room. I had no right to bring that up, not after promising not to. You had every reason to try and hex me."

"Apology accepted," said James slowly, in slight disbelief. "And looking back, perhaps it was not the best time to bring it up."

Sirius nodded in agreement.

James picked at his quilt. "Padfoot, assuming Lily says yes, you'll still be my best man at the wedding, right?"

A huge grin spread over Sirius' face. "I wouldn't miss it for the world, Prongs. But I want one thing in return. Promise me you'll be around once a month, for Moony."

"Padfoot, Lily isn't going to lock me in a cave and never let me out! I'll be around more than once a month. Hell, I figured you'd drag me out to bars every weekend. After all, you'll need me to attract the ladies, who after finding out I'm married, will settle for second best and leave with you." James ducked as a pillow flew over his head.

"Prongsie, the thought of marriage has addled your brain, because you're delusional."

James grinned back, enjoying bantering with his best mate again.

* * *

Lily was thoroughly sick of studying. With N.E.W.T.s only two days away, she felt like her head was one huge cauldron, where everything she read slowly congealed into one ambiguous lump. As if that wasn't bad enough, she was on pins and needles over when James would finally pop the question: if he ever did. After two weeks and no further mention of marriage from him, Lily began to wonder if he had changed his mind. Perhaps giving herself time to think had allowed him to do the same, and he had come to the opposite conclusion than she. It was nerve racking, stressful, and not at all conducive to a healthy study environment.

* * *

When the final N.E.W.T exam concluded, Hogwarts could practically hear the entire seventh year class heave one huge sigh of relief. Although there was still the second guessing and the panicked, "were there twelve steps in a patience potion or fourteen? Thirteen, you're kidding, right?" most of the stress disappeared. Now anticipation took over, as students waited for their scores and acceptance letters for the jobs and programs they had applied to.

"I'm going to lie here all day," Anne proclaimed happily from her place in the middle of her bed. She snuggled into the pillows and soft comforter, arms and legs in a spread eagle. "I have nothing to do! Nothing! It's wonderful."

"Let's not lie here, though," Lily replied from her bed. "It's too nice a day. Let's go lay by the lake, maybe take a nap under a tree."

"Only if you get up first."

Lily didn't move. "You get up and levitate me down there."

The both laughed. "We're so lazy."

"We deserve to be lazy after all that studying," Lily responded.

"Do you think we could convince some house elves to bring lunch to us and serve us in bed?"

There was a light taping at there window and both women exchanged looks.

"Go let the owl in, Anne," Lily joked.

"You let the bloody owl in, I'm not moving."

Lily waved her wand lightly and the window popped open, but no owl appeared. Anne and Lily exchanged another glance.

"Are you waiting for an invitation?" Lily shouted to what she thought was a hesitant bird.

"You know, not being at the window really messes with the whole Prince Charming persona. You asked for Prince Charming, you're supposed to play the dutifully princess waiting to be rescued."

Lily sat up at the sound of James's voice floating through the window. Anne mouthed 'Prince Charming' and raised her eyebrows.

"I'll explain it later," Lily replied, moving toward the window. James' mention of Prince Charming gave Lily hope that he hadn't changed his mind about proposing. Though, it did sort of worry her that he took the Prince Charming bit seriously. She had to remember not to use Muggle allusions around him. Slightly scared at what she might see, she looked outside.

James hovered on a broomstick just beyond Lily's dormitory window. He grinned mischievously when she finally appeared. "Want to go for a ride?"

"Now?"

"Why not? I've packed lunch. We can find a nice quiet spot."

_So you can propose...maybe?_ Lily returned James's grin. "I'll be right down."

"Just climb on now."

"What, through the window? N.E.W.T.s driven you mad?"

He hovered closer to the window, so that his right leg was pressed against the stone of the tower. "I promise you won't fall."

Lily really didn't want to squeeze through the window and climb onto a broomstick a hundred feet above the ground. She looked over at Anne, hoping for a helpful suggestion. Anne just shrugged, hiding her amused smile.

"Can I borrow your broom?" Lily asked Anne.

"What? You're going to fly your own?" James seemed disappointed. "You're really killing this whole Prince Charming, riding away on the back of his white steed, thing."

She really had to stop using Muggle allusions. And why the hell did Remus keep explaining them to him?

"I know how to fly," Lily shot back. "This princess rides alone."

James looked incredulous. Then why did she give the bloody speech about a Prince Charming proposal? Merlin, women were confusing.

"Thy broom is in the corner, my lady" Anne quipped, pointing to the racing broom she kept for friendly pick-up matches of Quidditch. Kneeling on her bed, she pretended to curtsey. "And don't forget to be back by the stroke of midnight or your broom will turn into a cucumber, and watch out for any poisoned apples or spindles."

Lily stalked over and grabbed the broom. "I fully regret loaning you that book of Muggle fairy tales in our first year."

"And just think, you wanted me to take Muggle Studies." Anne grinned at her best friend, waving her out the door.

Lily carried the broom down to the common room, where there were much larger windows. She didn't bother to explain herself to the staring students. She just threw one open, mounted the broom, and swooped out into the warm late spring air. James still hovered around her dormitory window, seeming fairly impressed that Lily actually could fly.

"Been practicing since first year flying lessons I see." He pulled level with her broom, hanging on with his legs as he pulled both hands through his already wind swept hair.

She shot him an impish grin. "Just because I choose not to chase after enchanted balls at high speeds doesn't mean I didn't see a need to learn how to fly adequately."

"I will never doubt your flying skills again," he promised, putting a hand over his heart. Lily swatted at him, causing her broom to pitch slightly. She hurriedly put both hands back onto the handle as James laughed.

They flew away from the castle. The Ministry had sent Aurors to guard Hogwarts' perimeter, allowing students back out on the grounds unsupervised. The timing was perfect, as the weather had warmed and become increasingly sunny. As they flew over the shallows of the lake, Lily watched the puffy white clouds reflected below her. James, showing off, dove toward the surface before pulling up and skimming the water with the tips of his shoes. Lily practically fell off her broom, laughing, when a sneaky tentacle appeared out of the depths and snatched the left trainer right off his foot.

They landed in a grassy meadow on the edge of the lake. Trees rung most of the meadow, ensuring privacy, but it wasn't so secluded to be dangerously far from the castle. A large blue blanket spread out by the water's edge, with a basket on it.

Hope sprang to life inside Lily. James had put a lot of thought and effort into this little date. They stretched out on the blanket, basking in the warm sunshine. James pulled two bottles of butterbeer, two peaches, and a plate full of sandwiches out of the picnic basket. Those were followed by chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.

"You're an excellent romantic picnic planner," Lily complimented, snuggling against James after they had finished eating, "and an excellent Prince Charming as well."

"No help from you," James teased back, sitting up and shifting their positions so that he could wrap his arms around Lily from behind, as she leaned against his chest.

"Where would the fun be if I made it easy for you?"

"Indeed," James replied, though Lily couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "Always remind me that I have to work to be with a beautiful, talented witch like you. We wouldn't want me becoming complacent."

She tilted her head up in order to give him a quizzical look. He just smiled and kissed her forehead before his hands slid off her waist and intertwined with her fingers. Lily felt a small, round object pressed between her and James' left palms.

"I want to prove my love for you every single day for the rest of my life," he whispered softly into her ear now, sending pleasure filled tingles up and down her spine. He moved his left hand away from hers. Clutched between his thumb and index finger was a gold ring, with a single, perfect diamond rising from the center. "And you will make me the happiest I've ever been if you let me do that. Marry me, Lily Evans."

Lily wasn't sure if she actually croaked out 'yes' before her eyes welled up and she turned to kiss him, but he got the message. It took him a few seconds to get the ring onto her finger, but as soon as Lily felt it slide on, she threw both hands around his neck. James pulled away worriedly, feeling her tears fall on his face. But she pulled him back with a gentle hand on the side of his face, unable to entirely form words to explain the tears of joy.

* * *

The sun barely remained above the horizon when Lily and James finally admitted they had to fly back to the castle. If it wasn't for their mutual agreement that dinner would be nice, they might have stayed out hours longer.

The Great Hall was already full, when James and Lily entered. The Gryffindor seventh years were already seated, eating and celebrating the end of exams. Lily couldn't help but smile when she saw Anne seated very close to Remus. She and James held hands, hiding her ring from view, though it took all of Lily's willpower not to shout her good news through the entire hall. Sirius and Peter budged over to give them a place to sit as they deposited the broomsticks and empty picnic basket on the floor.

"What happened to your shoe?" Sirius asked, staring at James bare left foot.

"It turns out the Giant Squid has a taste for rubber," he replied with a grin, pulling a plate of pork chops toward him.

"I suppose you only crawled out of bed for food," Lily said across the table to Anne, noticing immediately the blush that crept into both Anne's and Remus' faces.

"Yeah," Anne replied unconvincingly. Lily gave her a disbelieving look.

"Well you were off having fun, I deserved to have some too," Anne whispered, causing Remus to blush even more.

Unable to contain herself any longer, Lily finally pulled her left hand from beneath the table and asked Anne to pass the boiled potatoes. Anne had the bowl halfway to its destination before she noticed the ring, dropped the bowl, and shrieked loudly enough to startle a fair number of students in the vicinity. The next thing Lily knew, her arm was nearly pulled out of its socket as Anne wrenched the bejeweled hand across the table.

"For real?" Anne finally managed to stutter.

"Really," Lily replied, earning another squeal from Anne, who launched herself across the table to hug Lily, before waving Lily's hand toward Julian. Three more loud shrieks sounded, as Lily's other roommates noticed the engagement ring and ran over to congratulate her. By now, the entire Great Hall stared at the seventh year end of the Gryffindor table. The loud proclamations being made by the girls and the congratulatory pats on the back dolled out to James didn't make it hard to guess what had happened.

At the staff table, Professor McGonagall was about to loudly demand their peaceful dinner back when Dumbledore stopped her with a gentle hand. "Let them be, Minerva, they haven't had much to celebrate this year."


	16. Epilogue

Epilogue

Lily gently pushed aside the soft gossamer curtains so she could peer outside. For once it wasn't because she was afraid. She felt safer than she had in months now that the Fidelius Charm had been performed. She peeked out the windows in hopes of spying the last of the retreating trick-or-treaters. The Muggle children had scampered around Godric's Hollow for the better part of the night, swinging plastic pumpkins, gleefully hopping from house to house. They reminded her of her own childhood.

She turned away and looked into the crackling fire. Their hiding place was slowly coming to look like a home after only a week. Lily found it ironic that their safe house was an upgrade compared to the small flat they had lived in since graduation. Initially moving into the flat off Collater Alley so that James could honor Lily's request to feel like an adult, they had decided to stay after Death Eaters had sacked and burned Potter Manor. But not even all the wards they had put on the flat could protect them forever. With Voldemort out for their blood, they knew the best choice was to relocate secretly and cast the Fidelius Charm.

Lily had decorated the little house with touches from her parents' home and Hogwarts. The mantel displayed several pictures that meant the most to her. First, there was one of her parents. Then there was one from Hogwarts, just after they had graduated. She had felt the loss of her parents very strongly that day as she watched the other students receive hugs and congratulations from their families. Her photo self hid behind James most of the time, ashamed of her puffy red eyes from crying. The second to last photo was taken on her wedding day. Although she had also greatly missed her parents that day, she didn't hide in this picture. Instead her image grinned madly as she gripped James' arm. Behind them, Anne's photographic self winked at Remus, while the rest of the bridesmaids and groomsmen snickered. It was hard for Lily to look at the photo.

A sharp cry pulled Lily away from the memories. She bent over the living room bassinet and scooped up her rapidly growing fifteen-month-old. She bounced him lightly as she patted his back, and his cries subsided as a small burp escaped. She never would have guessed she could love someone more than James until Harry was born. Sirius and James were already grooming him to lead the next generation of Marauders, and Lily didn't doubt he'd wreak plenty of havoc once he reached Hogwarts. And if he continued to look like James, he'd probably break a few hearts as well. She glanced back at the last photograph on the mantle. She and James cuddled a blue, blanketed bundle while Sirius, Remus, and Peter gathered around.

Harry's birth had managed to bring a lot of joy to a world rapidly filling with sorrow and anguish. Lily had seen far more death than she ever thought possible. She and James had barely escaped with their own lives on several occasions. Other members of the Order hadn't been as lucky. Half the members were either dead or missing: Marlene McKinnon, Benjy Fenwick, Dearborn, the Prewett brothers. It seemed the list grew everyday. Anne had been murdered by Voldemort during a mission only days before Lily discovered she was pregnant. She had refused to name a living godmother for Harry, keeping her promise to her best friend. Anne was now better than a godmother, she was a guardian angel.

All the members of the Order had quickly realized how fleeting life could be. So many people were dying that Anne's death wasn't as shocking as it should have been. But it still affected them all deeply, especially Remus. He had been there, and Lily knew he blamed himself for not saving her. She hadn't seen him since they went into hiding. He wasn't being included in the loop anymore. James and Sirius suspected he may have been corrupted by Voldemort, but Lily couldn't bring herself to believe it. She knew he'd cared for Anne too much to join up with her murderer, even if Voldemort offered werewolves rights the Ministry had denied them for centuries. She couldn't bring herself to believe anyone close to them had turned dark, no matter what Dumbledore, James, and Sirius insisted.

Despite all the death and treachery, there was still life, Harry was proof of that. Life could be created even in the midst of terrible war. The Longbottoms had a son Harry's age. Edgar Bones had a young niece. A month before they were killed, Fabian and Gideon Prewett had mentioned their sister was expecting her seventh child, bless her. Lily could barely handle James and Harry sometimes, never mind six others. Although she had never met her, that woman had Lily's undying admiration.

Harry's breathing became rhythmic and steady, alerting Lily that he had fallen back to sleep. She gently laid him back into the crib, allowing her fingers to slide over his perfect forehead and through his feathery black locks. She wished for the war to be over, not for herself, but so that her son would know a life of peace. That's why they kept fighting, so children like Harry and the Prewetts' nieces and nephews wouldn't have to.

Lily sighed lightly as she sank onto the couch next to James, who scanned a Quidditch magazine Sirius had brought over a few days earlier. He immediately put a protective arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him, all the while his eyes never left the page.

"Glad to know I'm less interesting than the newest model of racing brooms," she teased, resting her head on his shoulder.

"They have these great new brooms for kids…"

"Don't even think about it. Harry doesn't get a broom until he's a least four."

James pouted. "It wouldn't rise high enough for Harry's toes to leave the ground. He can toddle faster than it flies. It would just help him pick up the feel of flying…"

"James, he can't even say Quidditch yet. It's bad enough you have that ridiculous mobile above his crib and he sleeps with that stuffed snitch. He doesn't need a broomstick."

"Fine, but as soon as he turns four…"

"Go back to reading, dear."

James grinned and kissed Lily's forehead as he turned back to the magazine. Lily felt herself starting to drift off to sleep when she was startled back to consciousness by James's sudden movement. As the fog of sleep left her brain she heard the unmistakable sound of the back door squeaking open. James jumped to his feet, gripping his wand tightly. Lily felt the familiar sensation of fear and adrenaline course through her body. As James crept toward the kitchen to see who it was, Lily hovered protectively over Harry's cradle. James' face paled considerably as he shot a protective ward at the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. A second later, it shimmered under the impact of a strong curse. She knew what must have happened even before James shouted his warning. How could Peter have done such a thing?

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-"

She barely bit down a scream as she turned and noticed that the front door, her escape route, had disappeared, leaving only solid wall. She reached for her wand, realizing a second later she had foolishly left it upstairs. She cursed her careless stupidity as James' hasty ward collapsed under another barrage of spells. She had once told James she never ran from dark wizards, but now she had a reason to flee. With one last desperate look at her husband, she grabbed Harry and ran upstairs, determined to protect her son with her life.

The End...of one story, but the beginning of another.


End file.
